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Other Volumes 
in Preparation 



THE 

TREASURE FINDERS 




BUILDIN(i A CARAVEL 



THE 
TREASURE FINDERS 

OR 

How the Adventurers of Four Countries 
Sought a New Land 



BY 

OLIVER CLAY 




NEW YORK 
DUFFIELD AND COMPANY 

1914 



E/6! 



Copyright, 1914 
Br DUFFIELD & COMPANY 



OCT 2 1914 



CI.A380663 



CONTENTS 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I The Sea Rovers i 

II The Man Who Found a Country . . 26 

III From English Shores 59 

IV The Finding of an Ocean .... 83 

V The Man Who Sailed Around the 

World 106 

VI The Conqueror of Mexico .... 125 

VII The Father of Waters 157 

VIII The Opening of the Gateway of Can- 
ada 180 

IX The Father of New France . . . 205 

X The Mystery of the Half Moon . . 235 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS 



Building a Caravel Frontispiece 

From Herrera's "History of the West Indies" 

Facing Page 
Discovery of Hispaniola 56 t 

From Herrera's "History of the West Indies" 

An Indian Encampment 88 

Reduced from Rugendas' "Malerische in Brazilien" 

Attack on Natives in Trees 178 

From Herrera's "History of the West Indies" 



INTRODUCTION 

The men who found America — who sailed the 
unknown seas, traversed mysterious forests, and 
came upon mighty rivers which flowed they knew 
not whither, were heroes of daring. Their lives 
were full of excitement, and the adventures which 
befell, them — the dangers they faced, the mutinies 
and plots they quelled, the strange sights they saw 
— form stirring chapters in the history of our coun- 
try. 

The following stories deal with the romances of 
discovery and exploration. As a noted historian 
has said, no boy who has made friends with Robin- 
son Crusoe, will fail to be at home with Champlain 
and Drake ; no girl at all familiar with the heroines 
of the past, will forget the picturesqueness of Queen 
Isabella. 

The spirit of piracy was found aboard the small 
boats which put out from Spain, England, France, 
and Holland. How tiny and how insecure these 
crafts were will be remembered by many who saw 
the caravel which was brought over from Spain by 
our armored cruiser for the Chicago World's Fair 
in 1893, and the model of the Half -Mo on which 



INTRODUCTION 

was stored away on one of our modern ocean 
liners, and sent by the Dutch to participate in the 
Hudson-Fulton celebration in 1909. 

The only real way to understand history is to 
know the men who made history, A date only tells 
when a thing was done ; it does not tell how or why 
it was done. A date only tells when a man lived; 
it does not make us see the man as he actually was. 
1492 is a year we all remember, but the picture of 
Columbus pacing the deck alone, looking into the 
darkness of night for some sign of land, thinking 
every star a signal from an unknown shore — such 
a picture is more interesting than the date. 

History is not a dry study; it is full of action, 
and this action is what makes a story. 



THE 
TREASURE FINDERS 



THE TREASURE FINDERS 



CHAPTER I 

THE SEA ROVERS 

WHEN the world was very young, and our 
America an undiscovered country, the sun 
shone upon a virgin land of surpassing beauty, 
though none beyond the seas which girdled it knew 
of its existence. On either side an " ocean old, 
centuries old " lapped about its untrod shores. In 
the heart of it were lakes and rivers, dense forests 
and high mountains. Parts of it were warm and 
balmy, — the land where the palm trees grew, where 
the palmettoes spread their shade, and brilliant 
flowers and gorgeous-hued birds lived and flourished 
in the tropical sun. Parts showed majestic trees 
and plants of hardier growth, and seasons that came 
and went like our own. Winds sighed through the 
forests, and the waters of the lakes and rivers and 
woodland streams rippled in ceaseless flow. Some- 
times wild beasts came down to the water's edge to 
drink, sometimes a red-skinned savage — his bow 

I 



2 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and arrows at his back — stole down too, another 
wild animal in search of prey. But for the most 
part reigned the silence of undisturbed peace. 

The mountains towered in the blue distance, — 
some low and undulating, covered with green in 
Summer and red and yellow Autumn tints, and bare 
gaunt trees in Winter; others with lofty snow- 
capped peaks, standing clear-cut against the sky 
line. All great and mysterious, hugging their 
mighty secrets in a thousand clefts and ravines and 
abysses, burying stores as priceless as gold and sil- 
ver beneath the weight of giant rock! 

Beyond, in the far North where the rocks grew 
larger and the trees smaller, the angry waters lashed 
themselves into a fury at the foot of grim plateaus. 
" A stern and rock-bound " jagged coast-line jutted 
out into the sea, which roared and pitched its waves 
mountain high, building icebergs with every toss of 
its crested head. The heart of this country was 
frozen. Winter lived here in a crystal palace all the 
year round. True, for several months the sun 
shone with a brilliance which caused the snow and 
ice to sparkle with prism rays. But things which 
slept deep down in the frozen ground had never a 
chance to waken into life, so fond was the Frost 
King of his palace and his ice diamonds and his 
glittering snow, his polar bears, his seals, his sables, 
and the other furred things which were found in 
this bleak land. 



THE SEA ROVERS 3 

There was rude living in this vast undiscovered 
country, for the savage tribes were little better than 
the animals they hunted, — wild, untamed creatures 
of the woods and glades and mountains, living on 
fruits and nuts. Then presently from between un- 
tutored lips came forth speech, very queer guttural 
sounds, but they passed from one to the other and 
were understood. Then came the hunger for some- 
thing more than fruits and nuts. They boiled their 
food by putting it into holes in the ground; these 
holes were lined with skins, and the food was 
cooked upon heated stones or by putting it into 
baskets lined with clay and hung over a fire. For 
they soon discovered that clay was hardened by heat, 
and liquid food was safe cooked in that fashion. 
Then some one smarter than his mates discovered 
that the clay would do perfectly well without the 
basket, and thus began the invention of pottery. 

After these savages had learned how to catch fish 
and to use fire, some master mind among them 
thought of the bow and arrow. With this they dis- 
covered they could fight and shoot wild animals, in- 
creasing their food supply, making them stronger 
and hardier. Then, searching among the animals of 
the forests, they found that the wolves, though sav- 
age like themselves, had the desire for companion- 
ship ; they were also keen hunters, and so the tribes 
caught many of them, and tamed them and trained 
them to live in the houses with their women and 



4 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

children, to lie before their rude fire-pits, and to 
lick the hands which gave them food or which 
stroked their rough coats, and to watch at night and 
to keep at bay their wild brethren of the woods. 

Thus we find the dog in America, before the royal 
families of dogdom came over with the discoverers. 
Little by little these savages took to building with 
more skill and with eye to comfort, the dwellings 
where they passed the rainy season and their hours 
of rest. They planted maize or Indian corn which 
grew so easily and needed so little care ; also beans, 
squashes and pumpkins were added to their bill of 
fare, and by the time America was ready to be dis- 
covered, these simple, childlike folk had awakened 
from a purely savage state. They were learning the 
uses of the things around them, had fashioned rude 
implements of agriculture and war, and were liv- 
ing among themselves in some sort of law and 
order. 

But up in the far North where the rocks rose 
sheer and desolate upon the bleak coast, the savage 
was still a wild creature. His food was coarser, 
his body — exposed to biting winds and ice and 
snow- — was of tougher fibre. He was clothed in 
fur, and he looked like the shaggy animals who dwelt 
there. Yet it was the dreary North country which 
was first to hear sounds from afar. 

Across frozen seas lay a world which was cen- 
turies old, no older in reality than the world which 



THE SEA ROVERS 5 

we call new ; old only in the sense that civiHsation 
had long abided there. In Europe there were na- 
tions many and great, dominions of vast extent and 
power. There were men of might, of wisdom and 
of learning; priests, warriors, kings and queens, 
scholars and sages, and a host of lesser folk who 
peopled the great cities and cultivated the soil, and 
who went forth to fight and die for their country, 
or to conquer and wrest possessions from the 
enemy. 

Norway was but a small part of this restless, 
crowded continent. Way up in the North it lay 
between two seas which did much to separate it from 
the mainland. For if we pause a moment and con- 
jure up the map of Europe in our minds, we will 
remember that Norway and Sweden (it was all Nor- 
way in the earlier ages) formed a peninsular touch- 
ing land only in the extreme northern part of 
Russia. 

A cold, bleak country is Norway, with its fjords 
and lakes, its gloomy mountains capped with ice 
even in Summer-time when the days were longer 
and the skies bluer. Summer-time in Norway lasts 
but a short while, yet it is a glorious time, when 
jiight and morning meet half-way in the clear sky, 
and the sun shines brilliantly at midnight — such a 
sight ! 

The fjords and the mountains were fitting scenery 
for the hardy race of men who flourished there. 



6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Strong, powerful, bearded giants they were, living 
a wild, poetic life; hunting, fishing, warring with 
each other and serving heathen gods — as wild as 
the mountains, the fjords, the crags and cliffs of 
Norway. Surrounded by the sea, these sturdy peo- 
ple set themselves the task of building ships to ride 
upon the waters in search of adventure. They had 
no knowledge of sea-craft, but they built their ves- 
sels of strong frame, and trusting themselves to 
Odin, the greatest of all their gods, they set forth 
on many enterprises. 

The sea was their playground all winter long. 
Nine months out of the twelve they were snow- 
bound and ice-bound, sitting in their great pillared 
halls around a fire which leaped and glowed as the 
flames wrapped about the huge logs which fed it, and 
making plans against the day when the ice should 
melt and give them liberty to go forth in their ships. 

They lived a simple, stately life — these hardy 
Norsemen — worshipping their gods with strange 
ceremonies suited to the wildness of the regions 
which they were supposed to inhabit, and singing of 
their prowess in long poems written by their skalds 
or bards, poems which we may read to-day trans- 
lated from the Norse collection known as the Edda. 
But most of all they loved the legends which told 
them of the coming of Spring. The story runs that 
two lovers declared their passion to each other one 
stormy night in a lonely hut on the mountain-side. 



THE SEA ROVERS 7 

They had no fear, for they were descended from the 
gods and enjoyed their protection, and though track- 
less wastes of snow lay about them, love was warm 
in their hearts and rushed to their lips in one fer- 
vent kiss. It was as a sign ; the doors of the snow- 
bound hut were opened wide, and without — the 
snow had disappeared, the hills were green with 
grass and gay with flowers, the sky was bright and 
blue, birds were singing, and everywhere was the 
murmur of running streams as the icy fetters melted 
in the sun's rays. 

The goddess Freya had wrought this change at 
the first kiss of the lovers she watched over. 
Winter had vanished from the land ; the Spring had 
come ! 

Centuries of such springs had summoned genera- 
tions of Norsemen to go forth in search of adven- 
ture. They were heathens still, though Christianity 
had knocked and gained admittance into most of 
the European countries. They served their stern 
gods while they lived, and when it came time to die 
they sailed away on their ships with their dogs and 
steeds and much treasure, on their journey to Val- 
halla — the great hall of Odin — where all brave 
men and warriors killed in battle were supposed to 
live after death. When the ship stood well out at 
sea the torch was set to it, and in clouds of smoke 
and bursts of flame the departing spirit took its 
flight to the hall of the blest. 



8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Somewhere about the year 872, King Harold 
Fairhair of Norway subdued the Jarls or princes 
who were sowing discontent in the country. He 
overcame them in a great naval battle, after a war 
which had lasted twelve years. These proud princes 
became his vassals, but it galled them to serve where 
they had once commanded, so with their Viking fol- 
lowers they went aboard their dragon-prowed 
ships and, invoking the blessing of the storm-god, 
sailed away to other lands. England, Gaul (which 
was the name of ancient France), Ireland, Scotland, 
the Orkney Islands, the Hebrides, even the countries 
bordering upon the Mediterranean Sea, — in short, 
wherever there were waters upon which to ride their 
ships — saw the coming of these powerful men of 
the North. 

But the best blood among them drifted to Ice- 
land, that noble island surrounded by Northern 
waters where these sea-roving princes could enjoy 
their favourite sport, and it was not long before Ice- 
land became a flourishing colony numbering at least 
fifty thousand souls. Here they raised sheep and 
cattle, and carried on a brisk trade in oil, butter, 
skins and wool, with Norway, Denmark, and the 
British Islands. The new colony soon became a 
centre of wealth and culture, for the Vikings of 
Iceland turned the legends of the new country into 
poems and histories which we know to-day as the 
Icelandic Sagas, and which contain a complete 



THE SEA ROVERS 9 

chronicle of the many adventures of these famous 
eea rovers who visited the coast of North America 
long before Columbus planned his voyage. 

These Vikings, of whom we hear and read so 
much, were for the most part descended from royal 
blood, but the name Viking was not bestowed upon 
them as a royal title ; its real meaning is " son of 
the fjord," and whatever of majesty it carried with 
it lay in the stalwart giant frames of the men who 
bore the title. We can picture them now with their 
fair hair flowing over their broad shoulders, their 
ruddy weather-beaten faces, and their bright blue 
eyes — blue as the shadows of the snow in the coun- 
try whence they sprung. We can see them in their 
ships, built always in the shape of some fabulous 
animal, going forth, they knew not where, — in quest 
of adventure, they knew not what. 

In the Eddas and Sagas these ships have been so 
vividly described, that we may have some idea of 
how they built them in those early days. Navi- 
gators had not yet learned to depend entirely upon 
sails in propelling a ship, though when the wind 
was fair they raised a sturdy pole upon which they 
hung one or more sails. The old galley was still 
used, with benches below to hold the oarsmen. 
They were stronger, swifter, and more seaworthy 
than the Spanish sailing vessels which carried Co- 
lumbus. They were called by figurative, poetic 
names, chiefly suggesting speed, such as Deer of the 



lo THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Surf, Reindeer of the Breezes, Raven of the Sea, 
Gull of the Fjord, Snake of the Sea, Horse of the 
Gull's Track, and hundreds of others equally appro- 
priate. 

The war ships were many and of various shapes. 
There was the Dreki or Dragon, the finest and 
largest vessel of the North, so named because the 
prow was ornamented with the head and the stern 
with the tail of one or more dragons. Indeed, the 
Northmen cunningly contrived to paint and orna- 
ment their ships to represent the animals for which 
they were named. The Dragon was a long, low 
ship, with room in its interior to hold from twenty 
to twenty-five rowers' benches, each bench accom- 
modating two rowers; the oars, moving evenly 
through the slits made to hold them, represented the 
legs of the fabulous creature ; the warriors' shields, 
hung over the sides, looked like the scales of the 
monster; and the sails, striped with red and blue, 
afar off resembled his wings. 

There were other ships: the Skeid — noted for 
its swiftness; the Snekky — a smaller ship; the 
Skuta — smaller still, and many others of which 
there is mention in the chronicles. The rudder was 
always on the right side (starboard) ; the helms- 
man was generally the commander of the ship, and 
his place was often below the rudder-head, especially 
when in battle he wished to protect himself from 
flying missiles, as the aim of the enemy was always 



THE SEA ROVERS ii 

to disable the commander. Whoever organised an 
expedition for any purpose took the helm, thereby 
assuming command. 

In the year 876, just two years after settling in 
Iceland, a certain Gnunbjorn, in search of adven- 
ture, was driven out of his course to the coast of 
Greenland, where he and his crew were forced to 
spend the Winter, as the ship was locked in ice. 
When the Spring set them free they went back to 
Iceland with wonderful tales of the land they 
had found, and over a century passed before any 
more discoveries were made by the Vikings. 

In 983, Erik the Red, so called because of his red 
hair, killed a man in a brawl and was banished from 
Iceland. With a few followers he took ship, de- 
termined to find the country Gnunbjorn had de- 
scribed ; and being a fine old heathen, with little or 
no regret for the deed he had done, he thought only 
of a suitable place in which to make a new home. 
They spent three years in exploring the coast of 
Greenland, and at length found a spot at the head of 
Igaliko Fjord. It was a deep fjord, but they man- 
aged to penetrate it and found this refuge hidden 
by miles of craggy ice-covered headlands — a pleas- 
ant surprise considering the grim surroundings. 
And Erik named it Greenland, wisely observing it 
was well to have a pleasant name in order to induce 
people to come there. This name, which he gave 
to one little corner, has since become the name of 



12 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

the entire continent, without rhyme or reason, for 
there is little of green in that desolate country of 
leaden skies and rocks and icebergs. 

At any rate, Erik was so well pleased with this 
expedition that he decided to venture back to Ice- 
land for the purpose of persuading settlers to follow 
him thence to Greenland. He succeeded in bring- 
ing twenty-five ships full of people, and a marvel- 
lous array of Dragons, Snakes, Reindeer, Gulls, and 
other strange animals rode forth upon the sea. He 
had with him many of the best folk in Iceland, in- 
cluding his three fine sons Leif, Thorvald and Thor- 
stein Eriksson — the last name meaning "a son of 
Erik.'' 

It was a noble company which set forth, but bad 
weather and cruel icebergs destroyed eleven ships 
with all aboard. The remaining fourteen after 
many adventures at last reached Igaliko Fjord with 
about five hundred survivors of this direful voyage. 
But Erik was undaunted ; he and his men set about 
building houses at a place called Brattahlid. And 
here Erik, the stormy, adventurous old chieftain, 
settled down as an honoured patriarch, to watch his 
sons grow up around him. He also had a daugh- 
ter, a half-sister of the young princes, called Frey- 
dis, but she was a dark blot upon their home, — a 
very wicked woman who, with all the Viking blood 
in her veins, had yet the cruelty of a tiger. 

Most of the settlers had brought their families, 



THE SEA ROVERS 13 

but they all looked to Erik the Red as the com- 
mander of the expedition and the head of the colony, 
and as his beard grew grey and his long locks sil- 
vered he ruled them wisely and well. 

Erik's home was built of red sand-stone, sub- 
stantially, after the Iceland fashion. The great hall, 
the central feature of the house, was girded with 
heavy wooden beams from which hung skins of 
wild animals captured in the chase; there were 
trophies of the war upon the walls. The huge fire- 
place with its inglenook was where the family usu- 
ally gathered, and it was rarely indeed without the 
brilliance of the glowing logs. Beyond was the 
table where they feasted, the vacant chair for the 
unexpected guest, the high seat for the master of 
the house, and lower benches for the rest of the fam- 
ily. The hall was curtained in many places, and be- 
hind these curtains were the sleeping apartments. 
The heavy front-door with its large clumsy latch 
had a little inner parch, for the Iceland folk put all 
their ornaments on the inside of their homes; and 
the guest, as he entered, stood framed like a por- 
trait in the doorw^ay. 

One night there was a knock on Erik's door in 
Brattahlid; the heavy latch was lifted, and a hand- 
some young Viking stepped into the hall. 

" I come from where my father dwells," he said 
in his simple way, bowing low before Earl Erik, 
who sat in the inglenook. 



14 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

" Who is thy father — and where dwells he ? " 
asked the Red Earl. 

" My father's name is Herjulf. I am his son, 
Bjarni Herjulfsson. I was always fond of ad- 
venture and took early to the sea. In the Winter 
season I rested when I could with my father; but 
behold, when last I went to Iceland, lo! my father 
had sailed away to Greenland." 

" Ay ! " said Erik the Red, " even with me came 
the noble Herjulf." 

Bjarni went on to tell the old Earl about his ad- 
ventures that Summer in quest of his father, — how 
he and his followers rashly took ship for the Green- 
land sea though they knew not in which direction it 
lay. These simple mariners depended upon the 
sun to guide their course, and when the winds blew 
and the fog fell like a thick veil they could not tell 
where they were drifting. But when the sun pierced 
the mists at last, they saw before them land level 
and well-wooded, with here and there a green hill, 
whereat Bjarni was much puzzled. For people had 
told him that Greenland was a land of ice mountains 
and frowning crags, not this sunny woodland coun- 
try, — this was surely not the land whither his father 
had gone with Erik the Red! His men wished to 
land, for they were in need of wood and water. 
But Bjarni said, '' No — it is my father I seek; we 
must sail until we find the ice mountains." And 
after sailing four days longer, they sighted land, 



THK SEA ROVERS 15 

grim-looking and desolate, which Bjarni thought 
must be the country. He ordered his men to steer 
for land, and, imagine his delight when he found 
himself on the very spot which his father had 
chosen for a home. And there was great rejoicing 
in Herjulfs household over Bjarni's coming to drink 
the Yuletide ale with his father. 

All this, Bjarni, sitting in the great chair beside 
the loaded table, told his host, who listened with his 
three stalwart sons close by. The old Viking liked 
Bjarni and took him into his service. 

Young Leif Eriksson, the eldest son, heard with 
wonder of this strange country of woods and hills, 
so unlike the Greenland that he knew, — indeed un- 
like any country he had seen on any of his adven- 
tures. And the desire to seek this new land rose 
within him. He talked much about it to Bjarni, and 
Leif Eriksson was a man not given to talking over 
much. 

A mighty man he was, tall and bronzed, with eagle 
nose and eyes as piercing blue as steel or ice, — a 
born leader, a ruler of men, with fear of none, not 
even of his father of w^hom the most powerful stood 
in awe. For it is told that while in Norway, 
through love of King Olaf Trygvasson, Leif became 
a Christian, and none dared break the news to Erik 
the Red save Leif himself, when with his followers 
he returned to Greenland. It was at a feast his 
father gave to celebrate his home coming, and Leif 



i6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

waited his opportunity until all the household was 
assembled, to announce his change of faith. 

Old Erik heard the words, " I am a Christian," 
and sprang to his feet, goblet in hand, his eyes blaz- 
ing. 

" Say that again ! " he shouted. 

His son obeyed him, facing him calmly. Crash 
went Erik's goblet, shivering into a thousand pieces 
on the table before him! His face grew purple and 
twitched with rage, and he raised the bronze battle- 
axe that always leaned against his chair, with men- 
acing hand. It was not an uncommon thing for 
these stern Vikings to slay their sons for even 
smaller offences, and the frightened company 
thought Leif's moments were numbered. But Leif 
was King Olaf's messenger and he was not afraid, 
for he spoke quietly to Erik the Red. 

" You know that your gods must die. We know 
that they are dead. But we have found One who is 
ever-living and ready to help us. Therefore King 
Olaf has sent me." He got no further, for Erik 
hurled the axe at him. It missed him by a hair's 
breadth, burying itself in the wall behind him. 

Instantly there was a tumult; followers of father 
and son drew their weapons. Leif rose from his 
seat and faced his father calmly. " You have 
broken the laws of hospitality — you who taught me 
these very laws. But I am not afraid; I will leave 
your house and go back to my ship." He signed to 



THE SEA ROVERS 17 

his men to file out in order — still standing before 
the high seat of honour and holding his father in 
check with his eyes as if Erik the Red were a mad 
dog at bay. Then, as the last man passed out, he 
too turned to go and walked alone among his 
father's frowning followers. 

" Stop ! " called Erik, growing blacker and blacker 
with rage. " You shall not throw shame upon my 
hospitality ; here in this house shall you stay as long 
as you remain in Greenland — you and your men, 
— and though I shall no longer own you for a son, 
you shall come to no harm." 

So Leif stayed, and little by little the mood of the 
fiery old Jarl softened. He never became a Chris- 
tian, but Leif grew back into his heart, and was 
once again a great leader. For all men knew that 
he was without fear ; so when the spirit of adventure 
rose within him, his followers were eager to set 
forth. He bought a ship of Bjarni Herjulfsson, 
which he called Sea Deer, and taking with him 
thirty-five men he resolved to find this country 
where wood abounded. " For," said he, " we need 
the wood for ships and for our Winter fires, and if 
no others claim it we may have it for the seeking." 

" Come with us," he said to his father, but Erik 
shook his head. 

" I am old, my son, and the sea life is irksome. 
Go thou and bring me word." 

" But you will bring us luck," urged Leif, and 



i8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

after many words Erik was persuaded. So his steed 
was brought, and mounting he rode with his son 
toward the ship. When almost there the horse 
stumbled, throwing the old warrior to the ground. 

" This is a sign that I shall discover no more 
lands,'' he cried. " Go thou, my son, and may Odin 
and Thor watch over you." 

When his father commended this favourite son to 
the care of the gods, Leif Eriksson put his trust in 
the Lord and set forth with great hopes for un- 
known lands. 

In the year looo, when the Summer sun was high- 
est, the little company sailed southward from Brat- 
tahlid till they came to a barren country covered 
with big flat stones. Leif called it Helluland or 
" Slate-land," and it w^as most probably either Lab- 
rador or the northern coast of Newfoundland, for 
that is the part of North America just opposite 
Greenland. It must have been very exciting to 
these mariners to touch land they had never seen 
or heard of before. 

When we go on a journey nowadays we know, 
exactly what to expect, indeed the very time we will 
reach our destination. But Leif and his men knew 
nothing; they could not even tell if their ship would 
take a straight course. The sun was their compass, 
and guided by pleasant weather they kept on towards 
the South, coming at length to a thickly wooded 
coast where they landed. On account of the won- 



THE SEA ROVERS 19 

derful forests, Leif named it Markland or " Wood- 
land." This is supposed to have been the coast of 
Nova Scotia. But the little party was fired with 
the spirit of adventure and pushed on for two more 
days before they came to land again. They found 
a low, sandy coast-line, and went ashore, " where a 
river issuing from a lake fell into the sea." His- 
torians seem to be of one mind that Leif Eriksson 
made his landing somewhere in the neighbourhood 
of Cambridge, Massachusetts; the river was the 
Charles, and the " lake " where they brought their 
ship and cast anchor was none other than Massachu- 
setts Bay. 

The waters were full of fish and the climate was 
so delightful that Leif decided to spend the Winter 
there. So they went to work and built themselves 
comfortable huts. They divided into parties and 
explored the country for miles around. One of the 
men came back in much excitement, saying he had 
discovered vines loaded with grapes. This man was 
not a Northman ; he had been brought up in a vine 
country and was much pleased at the sight of them 
in the new land. Leif accordingly called this court- 
try Vineland, as the grapes were plentiful during 
this Autumn season. 

Such is the story of Vineland spoken of in the 
Icelandic Sagas. It has been handed down to us 
since the time of Leif's discovery; from father and 
mother to son and daughter the story was told as 



20 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

fireside entertainment for many generations; then 
when people learned to write it was put on parch- 
ment. Even the children of Iceland were taught to 
recite these Sagas as they had been told to them, 
word for word, and woe to the child who strayed 
one step from the truth in telling of the deeds of 
Leif Eriksson and the other sea rovers who lived 
for a while in the fruitful Vinelands, — where In- 
dian corn grew wild, where grapes were found by 
the roadside, where the Winters were so mild that 
it was not necessary to house the cattle! 

Now this could not have happened in bleak and 
desolate Labrador, for grapes cannot grow there 
nor can Indian corn ripen even with cultivation. 
Labrador was undoubtedly the *' slate-land " Leif 
first touched. Neither could the mild Winter the 
men passed have been upon the shores of Labrador, 
while in Massachusetts such a season has often 
occurred. Besides, around Cambridge are several 
crumbling foundations which were standing in early 
Colonial days, and which many believe to be the 
remains of the huts Leif and his men built for their 
Winter quarters. 

They passed a very comfortable Winter, almost 
too comfortable for these sturdy Northmen who 
were accustomed to battle with the cold ; and, in the 
Spring of looi, Leif and his men loaded their ships 
with timber and set forth for Greenland. 

" We will leave the huts," said Leif. " It may 



THE SEA ROVERS 21 

be that I myself may return or some of my kindred." 

And so it happened that Vineland was the lawful 
property of Leif Eriksson, and though he never 
went back there his houses stood and served as shel- 
ter to those who followed him. 

They had fair winds and a straight course all the 
way to Greenland. When they had sighted land 
one of the men said to Leif, who, as commander, 
had his place at the helm, " Why do you steer into 
the wind when the homeward way is clear before 
you?" 

Leif only smiled and pointed ahead of him. 
" There is something strange out in the sea," he 
said. And sure enough it turned but to be a skerry 
or merchant ship astrand on the rocks. " There are 
lives to be saved," said Leif calmly, "and we will 
save them if we can." 

It was no easy matter to make a rescue in the 
Greenland seas. But Leif was not an ordinary 
man; there was something very noble and great 
about him which made all men obey his lightest 
word. Thus he was enabled to rescue Thori, his 
wife, and fifteen other persons with a great part of 
their cargo, and ever after was Leif called "Leif 
the Lucky " on account of this rescue which brought 
him honour and wealth. 

Now it happened that the shipwrecked persons 
were well known to Leif Eriksson and his family. 
The commander was called Thori Eastman, and his 



22 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

wife, Gudrid, was with him on the rock. Leif in- 
vited them all on board his ship and so they sailed 
with him to Brattahlid and became honoured guests 
in Erik's household. But Thori did not live long 
after his rescue; he and a number of his people died 
during the year. Gudrid stayed on in Erik's house, 
and at length became the wife of Thorstein, the 
third of Erik's sons. 

During the next Winter Erik the Red died at 
Brattahlid and Leif became head of the family. 

There was much talk and excitement among the 
Vikings over this new country of Vineland, and 
Thorwald Eriksson, the second son of Erik, became 
very anxious to visit this wonderful Vineland. 
Borrowing Leif's ship, he set out in 1002. He had 
no difficulty in reaching Vineland, where he found 
the huts, and here he and his men spent two Win- 
ters, going short distances to explore the country. 
But they never saw a human creature until the fol- 
lowing Summer, when they discovered a new coun- 
try which Thorwald decided to make his home. 

When they got back to the ship they discovered 
upon the sands what seemed to be three mounds, 
and going ashore for a closer look they found three 
skin canoes with three men under each. They fell 
upon them and killed eight of them; the ninth un- 
fortunately escaped and roused other savages, and 
made war on the vessel. In the fight that followed. 



THE SEA ROVERS 2^ 

Thorwald received his death wound, and his men 
buried him on the spot he had chosen for a home, 
placing crosses at his head and feet. Old Erik, the 
father, had gone to Valhalla like all good Vikings, 
but his sons had embraced the new faith. 

The sad tidings which Thorwald's men brought 
back to Greenland did not prevent Thorstein, the 
third brother, from undertaking the voyage. His 
wife, Gudrid, went with him in the same ship, 
manned by twenty-five followers. Their desire was 
to find Vineland and bring home the body of Thor- 
wald, but they were driven hither and thither in the 
open sea and finally back upon the shores of Green- 
land, far from home. Here Thorstein died of the 
plague and Gudrid returned to Leif at Brattahlid — 
a widow for the second time. 

This was in 1004, and that same Summer came a 
ship from Norway to Greenland, one Thorfinn 
Karlsefni commanding. He w^as a man of wisdom 
and great wealth, well received and entertained by 
Leif, and he straightway fell in love with Dame 
Gudrid. Leif consented to the marriage, so for 
the third time she became a bride, and with this new 
husband, Thorfinn Karlsefni, sailed away once more 
to Vineland, whither the people all urged Karlsefni 
to venture. 

This was the greatest of all the expeditions. 
They took with them all kinds of cattle, for they 



24 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

intended to settle In this country if they could. 
Karlsefni asked Leif to give him his house at Vine- 
land. 

" No/* said Leif, " I will lend it, but not give it." 

So they sailed away, arriving safe and sound at 
Leif's house where they settled down for the Win- 
ter. There was no lack of provisions and lumber, 
but during the first Summer savages were discov- 
ered. At first they were friendly and traded with 
the newcomers, but they soon became so trouble- 
some that Karlsefni had to put a wooden palisade 
around his house to keep them away. 

It was here that the first white child was born in 
America, the son of Gudrid and Karlsefni, whom 
they called Snorri. But much as they loved the 
beautiful country, the savages, whom they called 
Skraellings, proved too troublesome. There was 
always fighting and killing, and the Northmen did 
not like this warfare of the woods ; they liked a fair 
fight in the open, upon the high seas; and in the 
Spring Karlsefni decided to go back to Greenland 
where they might live in peace and safety and bring 
up their boy to be a great man. So they set sail 
and reached Greenland when little Snorri was three 
years old. 

Still one more trip was made to Vineland, but it 
is a gruesome tale the Sagas tell of the wicked Frey- 
dis, Leif's half sister, the last of the family, who 
took ship as the others did with many companions, 



THE SEA ROVERS 25 

who reached Vineland as the others did, and there 
poured the blood of her victims into the fertile soil 
of this fair country. When at length she and her 
husband came back to Greenland, news was brought 
to Leif of her evil deeds. " I have no heart," he 
said, " to punish her as she deserves, but evil will 
be forever on her and her children." And from 
that time there was only evil spoken of them and 
theirs. 

So passed the Northmen, these bold sea-rovers, 
forever from the wooded coasts of our new world. 
The rifts made by their axes in the virgin forests 
were filled up as the centuries passed by other trees, 
beautiful in strength and foliage. The footprints 
of the Northern warriors were soon hidden in the 
undergrowth. The wild animals had the forests to 
themselves unmolested, save for the savages whom 
the Vikings had taught to kill. And so this young 
w^orld of ours lay once more hushed in its cradle of 
silence while the Vikings sought other adventures 
across the sea and sang of Vineland as they drank 
their Yuletide ale. 



CHAPTER II 

THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 

IT takes a brave man to set sail upon an unknown 
sea and steadfastly to keep his face turned to- 
ward a western land; especially brave he must be 
if that land exists for him only in imagination. 
We give credit to Christopher Columbus for having 
discovered the western world, but more credit still 
must be given him for having put forth, for having 
sailed on and on even though his vessel groaned 
with every surging wave, even though his sails were 
difficult to manage in variable winds, even though 
his crew mutinied and threatened his life. 

Adventure after adventure befell Columbus, but 
nothing could keep him from his set purpose. He 
was the greatest mariner the world has ever known, 
because in days when superstitions governed the 
minds of men, he remained firm in his determina- 
tion to brave a sea of darkness. This is the fact to 
remember, when other events occurred in his career 
of which he should not have been proud. 

Columbus did not suddenly say to himself: I 
will go forth and explore the unknown path of the 
sea; he did not at once stand forth with his ideas 

26 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 27 

of strange lands and new ways of reaching Cathay, 
the realm of untold marvels and fabulous wealth. 
Discovery was in the air, so to speak, and the map- 
makers of the day placed upon their charts islands 
that seemed to be islands to sailors who, gazing to- 
ward the horizon for some token of their desire, 
conjured up land out of clouds, and measured the 
flight of birds as evidence of the nearness of un- 
claimed continents. 

One has to live in the midst of people intent on 
discovery, in order to be a discoverer. Columbus 
owed much to what was told him of adventures in 
the untravelled seas; he read stray accounts of hap- 
penings that occurred to those sailing East and 
outside the beaten track known to civilised nations. 
Being a sailor at an early age — for at fourteen he 
shipped — his mind was fired by the many stories 
passed from crew to crew. Later he became a map- 
maker himself and studied intently the exact posi- 
tions of the imagined lands scattered in the ocean 
to the west of the Azores, the Canaries, and Ma- 
deira, the outposts of surety beyond which flowed 
a sea of darkness. We could not have a more ro- 
mantic picture than that which represents Christo- 
pher Columbus, the discoverer. The son of a wool 
carder gave a New World to the Old. In after 
years he tried to disguise his lowly origin ; as though 
a great deed was not enough to cover the poorest 
with glory ! 



28 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

History tells us that 1492 Is a noted date. But 
history tells us more. There are many pictures to 
be held in memory — pictures of living men fighting 
against odds and meeting with success. America 
seems to have grown strong in that manner; we 
sought for a new land against odds — we became a 
nation against odds. The event is always furthered 
by the enthusiasm with which it is sought. 

Only after a long period of struggle and disap- 
pointment did Columbus find himself master of a 
caraval; he served many days of apprenticeship; he 
watched for the return of many travellers before 
he turned his face toward an unfamiliar horizon; 
he studied many maps, not in scholarly manner — 
for Columbus was not a student and possessed small 
store of exact knowledge — but as a dreamer would 
who imagined Cathay, the marvellous kingdom of 
untold wealth. 

Then, and not until then, did Columbus stand 
forth and say : " I shall put out to sea, Admiral 
of my own ship, Viceroy of lands I have never 
seen." It takes a brave man to do this, especially 
brave for one living in the Middle i\ges and at a 
time when the Spanish Inquisition burned people 
alive for less fault than that of imagining the world 
was round. But Columbus was intent, and, further- 
more, in order to stand aloof from the seafarers 
who were seeking for the East in the East, Colum- 
bus cried before the thrones of monarchs : " Give 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 29 

me but ships and I will find you the East in the 
West, if I but sail far enough." Surely many a 
wise head wagged over such topsy-turvy notions as 
these. 

By the time Columbus was born many things had 
happened to make men alert for new lands and 
strange adventure. The Northmen, as we have 
seen, had come to Greenland and had skirted the 
coast as far as Nova Scotia, but while there were 
Sagas which sang the history of these times, the 
Vikings did not take root. We can find but faint 
traces of their existence in Greenland and Vineland. 
Hence it is that when the period of exploration ar- 
rived, the discoverers found the land practically 
untouched by civilisation save that law and order 
peculiar to prehistoric man and to savage tribes. 

The Northmen, therefore, passed from America 
almost completely; though they brought domes- 
ticity with them, they took away all evidences of 
such; on their ships they had horses and kine, but 
they left behind no breed of cattle, goats, or swine, 
such as the Pilgrims had. 

The pre-Columbian voyages did not greatly affect 
the discoverer to be; in fact, history shows that 
there was no big movement to follow in the foot- 
steps of the Northmen. Europe was intent on 
firmly establishing herself by the eleventh century, 
and Germany, France, and England were not yet 
nations of any strength or sureness. There was the 



30 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

greatest ignorance regarding geography, and even 
the ancient writers Hke Ptolemy, Cicero, Virgil, and 
Seneca, who claimed the earth to be round, were 
rather vague in their ideas. Besides which, by the 
Middle Ages, the Church forbade people to believe 
in the theories of the earth's roundness, giving as 
their reasons proofs which we shall find brought 
forward in opposition to Columbus. All Europe 
faced the East for two special reasons: First, 
Commerce found its richest goal in India, Cathay 
or China, and Cipango, or Japan. Second, The 
Ottoman Empire, jealous and domineering, inter- 
fered with all trade between the East and the West, 
thus making it necessary for commerce to find a 
waterway to India. 

No one set out definitely with an idea of discov- 
ering America; even at the time of his death, Co- 
lumbus did not know that the land he had found 
was not a part of the coast of Asia. Though he 
crossed the seas from Spain four times, he never 
conceived of two new continents and never failed 
to search for Kublai Khan. Travellers had brought 
fabulous news of this Cathay with its gold and 
sapphires and diamonds; they had told of an ocean 
beyond Cathay and Cipango. Fired by the exploits 
of Portuguese sailors, Columbus rightly argued that 
if he but sailed far enough West he would reach 
Cathay. He did not count on vast lands lying be- 
tween Portugal and China; he did not conceive of 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 31 

two oceans having to be crossed before the great 
Khan could be found. This mistake kept him in 
ignorance to the day of his death. 

Cathay was a fairyland to the sailor of fortune. 
No wonder he would not look West with such 
promises tempting him in the East. Missionaries 
had penetrated Asia many hundred years before, 
and the strange people of the East became marauders 
on the Mediterranean coast. There are three things 
for us to remember about the state of Europe — 
three things which were to have an influence upon 
the career of Columbus : Eirst, that Saracen, Per- 
sian, and Turk opposed the advance of Christianity; 
in fact, gained such strength in the eleventh century 
as to threaten the civiHsation of the West. At the 
time of the discovery of America, the Moors had 
held the Spanish peninsular in such thrall as to divert 
all attention from any topic but self-protection from 
the infidel. A tide of religious enthusiasm swept 
across the Christian world during the Middle x\ges, 
and resulted in the Crusades which were pilgrimages 
organised by noblemen for the purpose of wTesting 
the tomb of Christ from the Ottoman control. It 
was Spain's struggle with the Moor that kept Co- 
lumbus dangling at the heels of moving armies, and 
partly spurred on by the memory of this as well as 
by the general enthusiasm of the Crusader, he made 
many vows, while struggling through storm and 
doubt at sea, to join the hordes of devout believers 



32 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

who were attempting to plant Christ's standard in 
the East. 

Second, that the great discoverer was an Italian, 
a fact which the Spaniards only agreed to forget at 
times, and Italy was a great maritime power during 
these Dark Ages of doubtful struggle between the 
East and West. Italy was a country of rival states, 
and Genoa struggled against Venice for supremacy 
in trade. There was no counting on friendship be- 
tween nations or cities in those days ; a King often 
found his vassal as powerful as himself, and had 
to make terms with him as best he might. And if 
the truth must be told, most of this rivalry was 
prompted by the avaricious dreamers about Cathay. 
And Third, among many adventurers to the East, 
two stand forth as probable inspirers of the great 
discoverer: the Italian, Marco Polo, and the Eng- 
lishman, Sir John Mandeville, who went to China 
and placed on record many strange accounts of 
Eastern sights and customs. In none of Columbus's 
writings which have been preserved to us is there 
any mention of these two, but it is safe to believe 
that of Marco Polo, a fellow countryman, he knew 
much. 

It matters little about " Sir John," for there may 
not have been such an august person, and whoever 
it was who really penned his travels stole from other 
writers, spicing the whole with some few adventures 
of his own and quotations from the ancients. On 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 33 

Columbus's second voyage there went with him Juan 
Ponce de Leon who was later to have curious ad- 
ventures in Florida. H Columbus had ever read 
the '' Travels " of Mandeville, he was able to dis- 
cuss the legends concerning a fountain of youth 
which was to flit, like a will-o'-the-wisp, in the brain 
of De Leon. 

The life of Marco Polo is full of thrills. His 
father and uncle, Venetian merchants, set forth via 
Constantinople, the great trading port of the East, 
for the Court of the Great Khan Kublai. This was 
in 1260. For nine years they were away, visiting 
remote regions in Russia, thence turning to 
Cathay. They then returned home and in 1271 
again set forth, this time with the boy, Marco, aged 
seventeen. Many young people figure in the events 
leading to the discovery of 1492 : Columbus — the 
boy sailor ; Diego — the boy son, who was with his 
father at that momentous hour outside the walls of 
a Spanish convent ; the boy at the tiller, whose sleep- 
ing caused the Santa Maria to become shipwrecked ; 
Ferdinand, son of the Admiral, below deck on the 
fourth voyage, with mind a-tingle at the thought of 
coming adventure. 

Reaching the Court of the Great Khan, Marco 
soon gained the love and confidence of the ruler. 
One may judge how firm the friendship when it is 
told that two years after his arrival Marco was an 
official at the court, and that he was over forty-two 



34 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

years of age when he again reached home. No 
wonder the Polo family had thought the three wan- 
derers dead; no wonder they had to prove them- 
selves before Venice would believe their story. But 
wdien the citizens of Venice saw the wealth with 
which the Polo trio dazzled their eyes, there was no 
withstanding the evidences of crimson velvet and 
rubies and sapphires and diamonds and emeralds. 
Great treasure has ever convinced men where mere 
truth has been powerless, and such wealth indeed 
as Marco Polo show^ed could come from no place 
but Cathay. Immediately he was held in great 
honour and on account of his experience he was soon 
to be put in great trust. 

No book of travels had then been written; many 
hours of entrancing talk had been spent, and some- 
where among his trappings a crude diary was stored 
aw^ay. Soon after, w^ar broke out between Genoa 
and Venice, due to jealousy and conflicting trade, 
and Marco Polo's flag was run up before a Venetian 
galley, as Commander. The odds were in favour of 
Genoa during the battle which follow^ed, and Marco 
was thrown into prison where his adventures were 
dictated. Many great things have been done in 
prison. Bunyan wrote his " Pilgrim's Progress " 
while enduring years of imprisonment, and it marked 
an era in literature, while Marco Polo's descriptions 
of his travels marked an era in the world's history. 

Thus it is that for the first time the civilised 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 35 

world obtained first hand accounts of strange coun- 
tries and of strange people. Much valuable infor- 
mation regarding produce and occupation was given 
in these pages, and minute descriptions of natural 
beauty and wealth. Marco knew how to appeal to 
the imagination of his reader, and in such times, 
when imagination was rife, his book had great in- 
fluence. 

But it is certain that no matter how much infor- 
mation might be brought back about the East, no 
one was yet keen enough to make systematic use of 
the material supplied. And the reason was that not 
only was geography in a very confused state, but 
the science of navigation was crude. The compass 
had not yet been put into wide use. There was one 
thing uppermost in men's minds — a new route to 
the Indies must be found, and credit must be given 
to Portugal for her efforts in that direction. No 
idea had yet been strong enough to make adven- 
turers turn West, though the Canaries, the Madeira 
group, and the Azores were known to Portuguese 
mariners, or to Genoese in the service of Portugal's 
King. It is very natural that when Columbus heard 
of this small kingdom's activity on the seas, he 
should hasten thither w^ith his seemingly strange 
proposals. 

The fame of Portugal was largely due to one 
man. Prince Henry of Portugal, commonly known 
as " The Navigator." Through his initiative, the 



36 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

attention of sea-gazers was turned to the coast of 
Africa; amidst the struggle with the Moors, who 
threatened the Ibernian peninsula in every direc- 
tion, Henry had been sent to the north coast of 
Africa to guard against seaward approach, and 
much to his surprise he discovered how the west 
coast extended south an unexplored distance. Here 
then was another problem to solve; in order to go 
East, if one could only sail around the continent, 
behold, the new route to India would be at hand! 
Step by step, the sailors felt their way. A great 
victory was that which brought the mariner around 
the northwestern point of Africa, and started ships 
down toward the torrid zone, where there was a 
superstitious belief, as strong as the legends con- 
nected with the sea of darkness, that no living being 
could withstand the excruciating heat. 

Shall we spoil the picture of this adventurous 
Prince by saying that his enthusiasm was partly 
prompted by the promise of slaves and gold dust? 
Perhaps it were better for us to forget the greed 
which spurred nations on the sea. No one, not even 
Columbus, could protect himself against the lure of 
riches, yet had Prince Henry not held firm to his 
belief that Africa ended in a point, Bartholomew 
Diaz might never have unconsciously sailed around 
the Cape of Good Hope, a feat which was design- 
edly accomplished by Vasco da Gama in 1498. No 
doubt the Diaz expedition served to fire Christopher 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 37 

into action, for his brother, Bartholomew, had ac- 
companied the circumnavigator and many were the 
wild stories brought back with him to Portugal. 

How few of us know what great events may hap- 
pen In obscure places! The times were ripe for 
some one to be more daring than any before him; 
the greatness of Columbus lay in the fact that he 
was a pioneer in a new direction. After he had 
conquered the sea of darkness, people tried to be- 
little his act; they claimed that any one could have 
done as he did. It was then, while he was prepar- 
ing for his second journey, so the story goes, that 
Columbus arose before many dignitaries, holding an 
egg in his hand. " Which one of you," said the 
Admiral, a little scorn sounding in his voice, " which 
one of you can make this egg stand upon its end? " 
Astounded and mystified, the noble company sat 
silent. " Behold then ! " added Columbus, breaking 
the shell at one end, and letting loose the egg which 
stood firm upon the table, " Go and do likewise." 
Columbus was never loath to assert his own honours 
and deeds to his own credit; and if we, who try in 
our history to be just, only think awhile, we shall 
understand that what Columbus did once was done 
by many others after him. But of them all, Colum- 
bus was the first. 

Genoa claims to be the birthplace of Christopher 
Columbus; some sixteen other places claim the dis- 
tinction, but authentic records have denied them all. 



38 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Many dates have been suggested for his probable 
birth, but after statements have been weighed and 
documents examined, historians have fixed the event 
between 1445 and 1447. There is no doubting the 
fact that up a narrow street in Genoa, leading from 
the shore, in a house now bearing an inscription 
above the door, w^as born a son to Domenico Co- 
lumbo, the wool weaver. There were other Do- 
menicos and other Columbos, some of them high 
in station ; and after the infant of Vice Dritto Ponti- 
cello, No. 37, had grown into deeds and titles, there 
was some confusion and some disappointment as to 
his lowly inheritance. That is why, no doubt, Co- 
lumbus was over particular in bargaining a conti- 
nent for title to be his and his heirs forever. 

However that may be, four sons and a daughter 
were born to Susanna and Domenico Columbo, and 
Christoforo was to have aid from two of his broth- 
ers, Bartolomeo and Diego Colon or Jacobus. 
These shall be met with later as Bartholomew and 
James. 

The event to come allows us to make rapid prog- 
ress in recounting the boyhood of Columbus. We 
must remember that he went to sea at fourteen, and 
at that time he could not only write well but draw 
deftly also. There is faint evidence that he went 
to the University of Pavia, but no doubt, even 
though going to sea at an early age, the years found 
him adding to his store of Latin and to his knowl- 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 39 

edge of mathematics, astronomy, and geography, 
without which he could neither have understood the 
map-making of the day nor himself have been a 
map-maker. Yet Columbus was not a brilliant 
man; he picked up his scientific knowledge as he 
went, and often found himself unable to refute 
arguments which others might readily have thrown 
aside. In many respects Bartholomew was more 
skilful than Columbus. No one as yet saw the in- 
ward gleam coming from the latter' s eye. 

There is much guesswork connected with the 
initial days of Sailor Christopher. He may have 
joined a buccaneering expedition against Naples; 
not even Columbus is accurate concerning these 
events. But whatever befell him we know that he 
had many years of sea training. 

By 1473, when Columbus arrived in Portugal, 
this much of his personal life alone concerns us: his 
state of mind that turned his face westward. He 
was married in due course, and had two sons, Diego 
(between 1475 and 1479), and Ferdinand (1488). 
But there was little home life in store for Colum- 
bus; his boys flit here and there throughout the 
events of his career, coming at last into sharper 
prominence toward the end of their father's life. 

It is said that fairies pull the petals apart when 
a rosebud bursts into bloom. Columbus had no 
such help; every step of his way was made difficult. 
If the world were round, said the ignorant and 



40 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

superstitious, even if one saw with his own eyes a 
ship sink beyond the horizon, first keel, then prow, 
then mast, how could it ever sail up hill again ? The 
notion was absurd, they said. Yet Columbus was 
to prove them wrong, even as Diaz was to show how 
he could go through the torrid zone and back again 
without so much as a burn. 

Never were the times riper for trial of an Idea 
such as Columbus had in mind. Rumours of a 
western route were afloat, and Portugal's King was 
interested in the proposal. There are many legends 
connected with hints of a western continent which 
had come to Columbus. Some say that a dying 
sailor, being taken care of by Christopher, told him 
how his ship had only recently been blown far be- 
yond known lands toward islands in the West. 
Thus confessing, the sailor died, leaving Columbus 
with a great secret in his heart. Could not this be 
true — especially true — he argued to himself, since 
curiously carved pieces of wood had been cast up 
by the sea and canoes scooped out of single logs of 
pine trees? These odd objects that had come across 
the Sea of Darkness did not stay his persistent 
thinking. 

At last he appealed to King John II of Portugal, 
nephew of Henry, the Navigator, and as was the 
custom of the time, a learned body was called to 
discuss the plan. There were those who said yea, 
and those who said nay, but all seemed to be in 



THk MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 41 

accord when they opposed the high attitude of this 
unknown scatterbrain, who would be admiral and 
more besides. 

Unsafe is the Idea of one man in the grasp of 
many. Seeing how the wind blew, yet not scouting 
the proposals, King John, digesting the scheme of 
Columbus, secretly sent a ship on its way to the 
West. But a ship is not all that is necessary for a 
voyage, — no one knew exactly whither, — and the 
men returned disheartened. Such action reached 
the ears of Columbus, and without more ado he left 
Portugal for Spain, in 1484, leaving his son Diego 
with a sister-in-law, near the port of Palos. 

One defeat will not dishearten a man, and fortu- 
nately, Columbus could not imagine the weary years 
of waiting which confronted him while Ferdinand 
and Isabella dallied with his proposals. Yet there 
is something to say for a King and Queen not in- 
stantly undertaking the expense of a journey which 
was beyond human experience, even if it was not 
impossible to do. In the midst of exacting war- 
fare against the Infidel, these two heard now and 
again of this man who would sail West for the 
glory of God and of Spain. For some time this is 
how matters stood : Columbus manoeuvres to reach 
the ear of Isabella's financial minister, who in turn 
whispers to his Queen; she, for the moment inter- 
ested, turns to her Confessor and asks him to look 
into the matter ; he holds Columbus in suspense while 



42 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

the months slip by, and finally, with much noise, calls 
learned men to weigh matters. 

But they dismissed all suggestions of encouraging 
the Idea since they were very pious and very learned 
in Church books that disbelieved the theories of the 
earth's roundness. In i486, while the Spanish 
Court was at Salamanca, where the University was 
situated, there was another gathering of councillors, 
and Columbus heard that many thought his scheme 
plausible. This, in a w^ay, w^as a victory for the 
wanderer, but he was not so elated as to lose the 
opportunity, when his brother Bartholomew re- 
turned with Diaz toward the end of 1487, to visit 
the latter, and to send him on a mission of suppli- 
cation to the Courts of France and England. 

If Bartholomew had not been beset by pirates, 
only reaching England some time between 1488 and 
1490, to that country might have fallen the glory 
of leading the way across the Atlantic! Some say 
that Henry VII actually wrote to Columbus after 
much persuasion, and his letter reached Spain too 
late, for the Queen of Spain by that time had ac- 
ceded to the demands made upon her purse. But 
if he could not actually engage the services of Co- 
lumbus, the English King had not long to wait 
before the Cabots, of Venetian birth, were solicitors 
for aid before his throne. 

Slowly, the stress and strain were beginning to 
w^ear upon Columbus, who, while he had patience. 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 43 

also possessed pride. He followed the Court wher- 
ever it moved, usually in the direction of the soldiers 
of Castile and Aragon, before whose front the 
Moors were being crowded to their last defence. 
By this time he was a familiar figure w^herever he 
went; this told upon his appearance, and as he 
walked along the streets, grey-haired, bowed, and 
musing to himself upon the possible issue, people 
tapped their foreheads and gazed after him curi- 
ously. 

It was becoming difficult for Columbus to believe 
that he was gaining ground and that he had a right 
to hope; he never knew whether or not he would 
be received at Court, so preoccupied were Ferdinand 
and Isabella over more important matters of state. 
Finally, when Christopher was told on all sides 
that he would have to wait, he turned to influential 
countries, thinking perhaps to gain their aid. But 
he was soon convinced that if he really did discover 
new lands of untold treasure, he would assuredly 
need a King behind him in order to protect whatever 
he might discover. There was no use lingering in 
Spain another day. 

Thus determined, Columbus went for his little 
son, Diego, who was now a lad of twelve, and had 
proceeded no further than the Convent of La 
Rabida, to the south of the port of Palos, when 
something happened. Night was falling upon the 
road when father and son saw the lights of the 



44 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

monastery in the distance. White-haired, dis- 
heartened and dusty was Columbus, while the boy 
by his side showed by his lagging manner that his 
small strength was well-nigh spent. In answer to 
the postern bell, the porter of La Rabida found the 
two, by the dim light of his candle held to the grat- 
ing of the window. Nothing loath for gossip, in 
a time when travellers served the place of our mod- 
ern newspaper, this monk led Columbus on in con- 
versation, while the Prior, Juan Perez, came upon 
them. Indeed, Columbus must have been eloquent, 
even after such light refreshment as bread and 
water, for the good Prior asked him in, and through 
the long night, far into the faint morning of another 
day, these two went over the golden dream of the 
West. The result was that the story must be told 
to others a little more worldly in knowledge than 
the genial Franciscan prior, who, nevertheless, knew 
wherein his power lay with the Queen, since in years 
gone by he had been Isabella's Confessor according 
to the customs of the Church. So a learned Doctor 
was called into consultation. 

Shortly after, the prior took a long, exacting mule 
ride to the Court at command of Her Majesty, and 
Columbus received royal orders to go no further 
but to await the royal will. Two things of moment 
were now to happen in Spanish history. The Moors 
were to be crushed at Granada and deprived of all 
hold upon Spain, and Isabella, prompted by the en- 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 45 

couraging reports of another Junta she had called 
together, declared her intention of supporting the 
new expedition, even if it drew upon her own private 
revenue. No doubt one reason why Spain reached 
forth a hand to Columbus at this time was due to 
the fact that, exhausted by the continuous campaigns 
against the infidel, here was offered the possibility 
of untold treasure which the royal coffers certainly 
needed. 

No one could have told by Columbus's manner 
that he was elated over the issue; he presented to 
the sovereigns a list of conditions which must be 
agreed to before he would stir a foot in the direc- 
tion of getting ready. They must make him High 
Admiral, with all the dignity and respect attached 
thereto; they must give him power of Viceroy and 
Governor General over all discoveries; they must 
allow him one-tenth of all treasure gathered by 
him. Such demands, and others besides, were 
made by Christoforo Colombo of Genoa, who, since 
arriving in Spain, was wont to sign his name Cristo- 
val Colon. 

There was no time to waste ; the Court was wise 
enough to see that, and credit must be given to the 
beautiful spirit which in part moved Isabella who 
was more warm-hearted than Ferdinand. In those 
days monarchs may have eagerly sought to im- 
plant the royal standard on unknown shores, but 
they were eager also to carry Christianity wherever 



46 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

they went. Yet strange to say, no priest went with 
Columbus and his motley, ill-assorted crew, on this 
first voyage. 

No sooner was an agreement reached between 
him and the crowned heads, than Columbus, graced 
with the privilege of using the noble title " Don," 
hastened to Palos, settling his family affairs on the 
way, and stopping to give his thanks to Father 
Perez, to whom much credit is due from history. 
But it is one thing to have the royal permission to 
sail and it is a far different matter to make ready. 
All told, as modern value runs, when the three ships 
were actually in fit condition, the expense was not 
very large, not more than two hundred thousand 
dollars, and this included the wages of all on board. 
As it was, the Crown made no very extensive prepa- 
rations. For it happened that Palos, having earned 
the royal displeasure, was required to fit out two 
vessels, even to the crews, and a family of Pinzons, 

— two brothers named Martin and Vincente Yanez, 
who, having had some experiences at sea, and being 
crafty as well as possessed of the necessary money, 

— joined the newly created Admiral in preparing 
the third vessel. Martin, in all probability, was 
planning to out-wit Columbus at the first oppor- 
tunity. 

Columbus had to pick his sailors from the jails ; 
few people otherwise were clamouring to brave the 
Sea of Darkness, but they little realised how anx- 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 47 

ious they would be, on the second voyage, to en- 
hst for a land where, the popular belief long held, 
untold wealth might be gathered with no effort 
whatever. Even these prisoners showed no incli- 
nation to go willingly. The King and Queen had 
to issue orders for the necessary equipment, and 
with these orders went the officers of the law to 
enforce them. Thus were the Santa Maria, Co- 
lumbus's flag ship, and the Pinta and the Nina, 
commanded by the Pinzons, made ready for 
the unknown. We wonder whether Martin had 
schemed to command the Pinta, which was the 
fastest of these caravels? 

All being ready at last, amid mucH ceremony and 
fervent prayers, the famous little fleet of three, 
containing ninety souls aboard, set sail in the early 
hours of sunrise on August 3, 1492, Columbus hav- 
ing given to his two commanders sealed orders, if 
by any mishap they became separated. An acci- 
dent, happening to the Pinta's rudder, delayed them 
at the Canary Islands, but after that w^ may con- 
sider the Admiral fairly off. On September 6, he 
spread sail for Japan, little knowing that America 
was to be his destination. 

The weather was calm for many days, and the 
Admiral eagerly scanned the faces of his crew. 
What though the voyage prove too long for their 
patience, he argued; what though their restlessness 
increase with each mile that took them farther 



48 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

away from home! These thoughts determined 
Columbus to keep a false reckoning — to show the 
sailors a table of miles they had travelled each day 
which would really be much less than the true num- 
ber, which he would lock away in his cabin. 

It is difficult for us to imagine the enormity of 
this first voyage; our ocean greyhounds cross the 
Atlantic on schedule time, and with their wireless 
apparatus are never aloof from communication 
with other ships and other lands. But here were 
three caravels, not much larger than our smallest 
sailing vessels, alone in a wide expanse, with crude 
nautical instruments, and no certainty as to what 
might next happen. 

Indeed, whenever the magnetic needle of the 
deck fluctuated, the sailors grew restless and 
scowled; whenever the temperature varied for any 
length of time or the sails had to struggle in over- 
coming strange ocean currents, Columbus grew un- 
easy for the temper of his men. If there was no 
depending upon the constancy of the north star, 
and if the magnetic needle continued to raise sus- 
picion, then surely there would be an outbreak 
among the men who had thus been impressed into 
the service! 

Superstitious men these were, a crew to discourage 
any Admiral, but Columbus sailed on and on, un- 
daunted. Then suddenly, consternation seized all 
who heard the scraping of weeds against the vessel's 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 49 

side. Miles upon miles, the Sargasso Sea stretched 
before them, a seemingly endless mass of tangled 
grasses. What though in the night time they be- 
came imprisoned in this maze, for the wind had 
died down and they were making small progress! 

But like all such incidents that befell them on this 
journey, they finally slipped through this green sea 
out into a free way again. The weather was with 
the Admiral, for his journey this time was to be 
without squalls; nevertheless, this does not mean 
that the new experience of winds and ocean cur- 
rents was not just as forbidding, and did not raise 
just as much anxiety in the mind of Columbus. The 
trade winds were so constant, so unvarying in their 
westward direction, that once more Columbus heard 
questions asked. What if the winds kept them for- 
ever sailing vv^estward; how could they then turn 
about and sail back to sea? 

Dissatisfaction therefore increased to such an ex- 
tent that there were whispered plots to throw the 
Admiral overboard and take matters in their own 
hands. Their hopes rose once when they imagined 
some river birds circling around the ship ; still more 
they were encouraged by a mirage which they be- 
lieved to be the faint outlines of a distant shore. 
Such were the dangers surrounding Columbus, and 
it would have fared ill for the Admiral had he by 
word or action shown his fear or his doubt. But 
he awed the men by his powers of controlling and 



50 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

by his certain conviction which the ignorant sailors 
thought was his superior knowledge. 

He also knew when to compromise, and he rightly 
argued that a slight change of sailing direction 
would please the restless crew. Often during the 
first few days of October, signals were fired from 
the Pinta and the Nina, both claiming to have sighted 
land. They were false alarms, and Pinzon now ad- 
vised a change of direction. At first Columbus 
failed to take his advice, but later a flight of birds 
made the Admiral follow their course. 

Thus, we note him changing his direction many 
times; had he at one point continued to sail due 
west, he would have landed upon the shores of Caro- 
lina, thus forestalling the Cabots who must be reck- 
oned the true discoverers of North America. On 
another day, had he persisted in maintaining the 
new course, he would finally have touched the coast 
of Florida, forestalling Ponce de Leon in his quest 
for the fountain of Eternal Youth. But the West 
Indies alone were to welcome him, while during his 
second voyage he found the mainland of South 
America. 

Columbus now promised to turn back if he did 
not meet with success within three days. On Oc- 
tober II, logs and branches and cane and berries 
floated past them, signs which naturally determined 
Columbus to keep close watch during the night. 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 51 

Mingled joys and doubts pressed upon the Ad- 
miral as he paced the deck in the darkness. Never 
did a man gaze westward with more longing; never 
were the stars more watchful overhead. The ship 
crept on and on, while — though no one knew — a 
green coast came nearer and nearer. At last the 
Admiral stood still, his heart beating, his hand trem- 
bling, his eyes peering intently on a moving light. 
Had his prayers been answered ? " Pero, good fel- 
low, do you see yonder beacon?" "Yes," came 
the reply close at hand, but Roderigo, standing on 
the other side of the deck, could not see anything. 
Columbus ordered more people to look, for he would 
not have a " no " for an answer. They must watch 
through the long hours, they must join him in 
chanting the *' Salve " ; surely land was near. In 
his fulness of heart the Admiral added a silken 
jacket to the money reward set aside for the first 
man to sight land. In the end, if the truth must be 
told, the Admiral fought for the reward himself, 
even though he had an over-abundance of bounty in 
other quarters. Poor Admiral, whose thoughts 
were soon to be centred wholly upon gold, and his 
share of worldly treasure ! 

Ten weeks had passed since that Friday morning 
at Palos, when they had lifted anchor, and now it 
was Friday again, at two o'clock on the morning 
of October 12. Roderigo de Triana, aboard the 



52 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Pint a, gave a cry which sent the gun signal of 
" Land " crashing over the waters. Thus was the 
first voyage to America at an end ! 

Columbus landed on an island called Guanahani, 
one of the Bahamas, though which one is to this 
day a bit of historic mystery. But when Columbus 
took possession of it for Castile, he gave it the 
Christian name of San Salvadore, yet it is extremely 
doubtful if the present island of San Salvadore is 
the island where Columbus and his men landed after 
their long and anxious night vigil. 

But experienced and skilful navigator that he was 
he still was blissfully unconscious of the enormous 
thing he had done for the world. He cruised about 
among these islands, thinking he was in the ocean 
just East of Cathay, and that a short voyage would 
bring him to the coast of China. And when he 
reached Quinsay, the chief city "of the Great Khan, 
cruising in a northwesterly direction, he would be 
able to deliver the friendly letter with which Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella had intrusted him. Instead of 
accomplishing this wonderful thing, he reached the 
beautiful island of Cuba, and everywhere the stran- 
gers were greeted with kindness by the friendly na- 
tives. They found pleasant villages on this island, 
and the fertile country was in a high state of culti- 
vation, but to the simple minds of the sailors, hunt- 
ing for gold and spices and cities and kings, this 
seemed nothing at all. The growing cotton in the 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 53 

fields meant nothing to them ; they wanted the gold 
in their grasp to satisfy their longing and their 
greed. Even the Admiral himself felt disappointed 
in spite of the primitive beauty which encompassed 
him. 

He owned himself perplexed ; he had expected to 
find Cipango (Japan) somewhere in these waters, 
and in the light of our present day geography we 
may well wonder at such a ridiculous theory. But 
the wisest of men were only groping in the dark 
in those old days, and Columbus was without doubt 
the most unconscious of discoverers. 

The Admiral, as we have said, was well equipped 
for his adventure. His three caravels, the Nina, 
the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, were staunch little 
vessels in their way, and provisions and ammunition 
they carried in plenty. He himself commanded the 
Santa Maria; Martin Pinzon, an able officer, com- 
manded the Pinta, a smaller but a swifter vessel, 
and Vincente Yanez Pinzon, the youngest of the 
many Pinzon brothers, commanded the little Nina, 
the smallest of all. It was while cruising about 
among these newly discovered islands, which de- 
lighted Columbus because of the scenery, that a 
serious accident altered all of his plans. 

Early on Christmas morning the Santa Maria 
struck upon a sand bank, and the waves soon beat 
her to pieces. Now this was particularly unfortu- 
nate, for Martin Pinzon in his ship, the Pinta, had 



54 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

deserted his commander, designing to reach home 
as quickly as possible in order to tell of his voyage 
before Columbus could get to port, his design being, 
of course, to take as much credit for the voyage as 
the Sovereigns would deign to bestow. So the acci- 
dent to the Santa Maria left the Admiral only one 
ship, the little Nina. The Pint a most probably was 
well on her way across the seas, and the Admiral 
began to fear that if she reached Spain ahead of 
him, his own deeds would not be exploited. 

But he had only the one small vessel and men for 
two ships, and it was needful that he should return 
at once to Spain where he would have no difficulty 
in getting men for a second voyage. This decision 
led to the founding of a little colony on the island 
of Hispaniola. A block house was built out of the 
wrecked ship's timbers and armed with her guns. 
It was called Fort Nativity and it was quite large 
enough to accommodate the forty men who were 
willing to be left behind with the friendly natives. 
Braving the rough Winter weather, Columbus set 
sail for Spain on the Nina with the rest of his com- 
pany, January 4, 1493. Two days later they over- 
took the Pinta in mid-ocean, and Martin Pinzon 
tried to patch up the matter of his desertion by lame 
and improbable excuses. The truth was, something 
had happened to his foremast; it was too badly 
sprung to carry much sail, so the Pinta could go 
neither far nor fast. 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 55 

Storms and various mishaps at sea separated the 
two vessels at last and kept the Admiral from reach- 
ing the harbour of Palos until March 15. His little 
caravel was promptly recognised by the people, and 
the whole town made a holiday of the occasion. 
Columbus was feted and honoured, and during the 
late afternoon, in the midst of the celebration, the 
Pint a dropped anchor in the harbour. The storm 
had driven her to Bayonne, from which place 
Martin Pinzon had despatched messengers to Ferdi- 
nand and Isabella, making great claims for himself 
and asking permission to give them his account of 
the discovery. But when he saw the Nina in the 
harbour his heart failed him and he kept himself 
hidden until Columbus left Palos for Seville. So 
the news of the Admiral's safety reached the Sover- 
eigns before they could reply to Pinzon's message. 
But the answer came at last in the shape of stern 
rebuke, forbidding him to appear before them. 
This blow was too much, for even the hardy sailor 
had overtaxed his strength on that terrible voyage 
home, and he died suddenly a short time afterwards. 

The Sovereigns w^re at Barcelona, and the Ad- 
miral was received there with great honours, even 
being allowed to seat himself in the royal presence. 
Great interest was taken in all the trophies he had 
brought from the newly discovered lands, especially 
in the six painted savages, who, since they were sup- 
posed to come from the Indies, that indefinite and 



56 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

unknown portion of Asia, were naturally called In- 
dians. Every insignificant treasure that he had 
picked up was gloated over and wondered over, and 
he was lauded from one end of Spain to the other, 
though nobody — not even the great Admiral him- 
self, — had the faintest suspicion of what had been 
done. The wonder of this discovery was beyond 
the conception of his generation; it was the wedge 
which opened the shut door of the new world. 

There were four voyages in all which the Admiral 
accomplished. The first and most remarkable was 
the one which gave us a continent, though people 
shook their heads, and three little caravels were all 
the navigator could command — and not a hundred 
men. The next expedition, in the height of his 
power and renown, furnished ships enough to carry 
fifteen hundred men, some of them the flower of 
Spain, a hot, dare-devil set who were to do much 
damage in the far countries. 

There were fourteen caravels and three ships for 
stores and provisions. It was while preparing this 
armament that Columbus incurred the deadly hatred 
of the Bishop of Fonesca, who had been created head 
of the Indian department, and little by little from 
that moment began the undermining of a great 
reputation. From the third expedition Columbus 
returned to Spain in chains, a sorry reward for all 
his labours. His appearance, as he and his brother 
Diego passed through the city of Cadiz, December, 




DISCOVERY OF HISPANIOLA 



THE MAN WHO FOUND A COUNTRY 57 

1500, aroused popular sympathy, and Queen Isa- 
bella, who heard of the indignity he had suffered, 
sent a special courier with orders that the brothers 
should be released. Columbus was invited to Court 
where the Sovereigns received him at the Alhambra, 
Isabella with tears in her eyes, as the poor, broken 
old man, stripped of his honours, threw himself, 
weeping bitterly, at the feet of his royal mistress. 

The fourth and last expedition sailed from Cadiz 
on May 11, 1502, just ten years from the date of 
the first, from which he did not return until Novem- 
ber 7, 1504, after the most terrible experiences both 
on sea and land, and he reached home only to find 
Queen Isabella on her death bed. She died nineteen 
days later, and with her perished his best and most 
faithful friend. 

After this there was no more work for the brave 
old mariner. Stripped of wealth and rank and 
title by his enemies, the last eighteen months of his 
life were spent in sickness and poverty, and he died 
on Ascension Day, May 20, 1506, at Valladolid, so 
unimportant an event as scarcely to be noticed. He 
was buried in the Franciscan monastery at Valla- 
dolid. Later, in 15 13, his body was removed to the 
monastery of Las Cuevas at Seville, where his son 
Diego was buried in 1526. Ten years afterwards 
the remains of both father and son were carried to 
Hispaniola to the Cathedral of San Domingo, and 
were afterwards transferred to Havana. Indeed, 



58 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

they have been removed so many times that there 
have been whispered doubts as to the identity of 
these treasured ashes. 

But after all the struggle of his life, only that 
first voyage really marks an epoch. John Fiske, 
our great American historian, says of it: 

" Nothing like it had ever been done before, and 
nothing like it can ever be done again. No worlds 
are left for a future Columbus to conquer. The 
era, of which this great Italian mariner was the 
most illustrious representative, has closed forever." 



CHAPTER III 

FROM ENGLISH SHORES 

WHEN the fortunes of battle set Henry VH 
upon the throne of England, he found him- 
self monarch of a distracted country torn by civil 
war; a sad country, whose many heroes lay dead 
on Bosworth Field which was the scene of the new 
king's coronation as well as the old king's defeat. 
The royal crown was taken from the head of Rich- 
ard ni, whose body lay near by, and placed upon 
the head of one far more worthy to wear it. And 
thus a new era began for " Merrie England " — the 
era of the Tudors, for Henry Tudor was the name 
of the young Earl of Richmond who suddenly be- 
came King, and he was the first of a line which was 
to rise to great power in the land. 

A glance at our English history will no doubt 
convince us that the young nobleman was not after 
all a usurper. His mother Margaret, Countess of 
Richmond, was a sister of Edward IV and of Rich- 
ard, the dead king, placing Henry in the direct line 
of inheritance; and to set him even more securely 
in his new position, wise councillors and wily states- 

59 



6o THE TREASURE FINDERS 

men suggested a speedy marriage, choosing as the 
bride little Princess Elizabeth, daughter of Edward 
IV and sister of those unfortunate young princes 
whom " good Uncle Richard " sent to Heaven from 
the Tower. This little Princess of York, once mar- 
ried to the House of Lancaster which Henry Tudor 
represented, would unite two w^arring factions and 
put an end forever to that disastrous " War of the 
Roses " which has been told to us " in song and 
story " as far back as w^e can remember. 

So Henry VII being a wise and prudent young 
King gave heed to the advice, and after some delay 
married the Princess who was " most exceeding 
young," and proceeded to set his kingdom in order. 
He was crowned, as we have seen, on the battle- 
field in 1485, and by 1490 things w^re certainly in 
beautiful running order under his just sway. 

There had been troublous times in working this 
change and not the least of the troubles had been 
the horrible scourge call the " sweating sickness," 
which had threatened to cut off the flower of his 
kingdom. But Henry succeeded in steering his 
Ship of State off the shoals and in advancing Old 
England to a new and important position in the 
world's history. And by the time Christopher Co- 
lumbus returned from that famous little excursion 
of his, referred to in the preceding chapter, England 
was quite ready to peer about along her rugged 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 6i 

coast and wonder what lay beyond the horizon 
which hitherto had seemed the boundary-Hne of the 
earth. 

To Henry's ears had come the news of a New 
World, just as to-day the latest feat in a flying ma- 
chine comes to our ears, but he stepped more warily 
than his Spanish and Italian allies. He had brought 
the country out of the darkness, but her coffers were 
empty and the war-scarred land was enough of a 
problem just then. So King Henry pursued his 
even way for many more years, strengthening the 
foundations of a great empire. 

During this time, however, other countries had 
been busy, and when in 1492 the Spanish Caravels 
returned, laden with treasure from the New World, 
the seaboard towns of England grew restless and 
eager. In all the public-houses where mariners 
drank their tankards of ale there was much talk and 
many disputes as to whither the Great Admiral, as 
Columbus was called, had steered his course; and 
rough and weather-beaten faces grew red with 
turbulent argument as they bent over rude maps en- 
deavouring to trace this w^onderful voyage, each 
holding his own opinion and maintaining it with 
sturdy fist if need be. And as it often happened 
these arguments were wont to end in a brawl. For 
among the seamen there were many nationalities 
drawn to these seaboard English towns in the hope 



62 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

that perchance some vessel might fare forth in 
search of the northwest passage which would carry 
them to that fabulous land of Cathay. 

There were Danes, Norwegians, Frenchmen, 
Spaniards, and Italians, to say nothing of the 
brawny sons of " Merrie England " who hovered 
near the shipping. 

In Bristol town, where the fair waters of the 
River Severn opened out to the sea, dwelt a well- 
known merchant with his wife and sons, one John 
Cabot, who about 1490 moved there from Venice 
where he had lived for many years. But whether 
he was a native of Venice or Genoa it is hard to 
say, as some historians call him the Genoese and 
others the Venetian. At any rate he settled down 
in England as the land of his adoption, as near the 
sea as possible. Consequently he chose Bristol as 
his home, for he traded on the high seas and from 
all accounts was a skilled mariner as well as a suc- 
cessful merchant. 

The Venetians it seems had factories in the dif- 
ferent towns and cities of the northern kingdoms, 
and scattered their agents where they thought there 
might be pleasant business relations. That John 
Gabota, or Cabot as he was called in England, was 
employed by these enterprising people up to 1495 
has been proved by many who know their history. 
In that year, having done some service to the mer- 
chants of Bristol, he gained what for a long time 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 63 

he had sought in vain — an introduction to Henry 
Vn and access to his Court, to which the King wel- 
comed men of learning, note, and usefulness; and 
already John Cabot was known as a wise and pru- 
dent navigator. He must have been over forty 
years old when he first approached Henry on the 
subject of new discoveries, but though a substantial 
citizen and a man of much influence there is little 
record left of him as a man. 

The greatest men are modest, and John Cabot 
spent his time in deeds, not words. He took charts 
to Court where he was admitted to the King's pri- 
vacy, and where no doubt he spread them out before 
the young Queen and the little princes and prin- 
cesses, for Henry and Elizabeth had four children 
— Princess Margaret, afterwards Queen of Scot- 
land; Prince Arthur, who died young; Prince 
Henry, who goes down in history as Henry VHI; 
and Baby Mary Tudor, who grew up to be a lovely, 
madcap princess and caused many a heartache 
among her admirers, for she was the only Tudor 
who believed in love for love's sake, and a direful 
time she had getting what she wanted ! 

But all this was never dreamed of while good 
Master Cabot was showing his maps and charts and 
his golden globe, for even before the discovery of 
1492 learned men were quite convinced that the 
earth was round, and when he pointed out what he 
thought to be the long sought northwest passage, 



64 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

the King and Queen followed him in wonder and 
the children listened as if to some legend or folk- 
tale, spellbound as he traced his course upon the 
map. 

It was not like our map, we may be sure; in a 
certain way the old time maps were better guides 
than those of the present day. Cities were not rep- 
resented by dots as on our modern atlases, but by 
the drawing of a castle or a palace; places of reli- 
gious interest showed churches; sometimes there 
was a human figure, sometimes dragons or ships — 
all having some special meaning in reference to the 
map. A mountain, instead of being a furry-looking 
line, was really a carefully drawn elevation, and 
indeed all points of interest were presented with 
such painstaking exactness that the simplest mind 
could understand. 

These rnaps were enormous, clumsy rolls, and 
when spread out on the King's great table it took 
John Cabot some time to explain things clearly to 
the royal family. Whether the Queen or the Prin- 
cesses listened or not history does not record. No 
doubt Master Cabot was a fair talker, and it is very 
evident that he impressed King Henry mightily, to 
say nothing of the young Prince who stood as we 
have often seen him in his portrait — his short legs 
apart, his hands on his well-padded little hips, his 
small eyes twinkling with eagerness, his boyish 
mouth suppressing just the faintest kind of a smile 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 65 

— that in later years became more deeply marked 
by a cruel sneer. But now he only stood apart and 
listened, while his father put keen questions to the 
navigator, receiving calm and direct replies that 
seemed to satisfy him, for he nodded more than 
once with an air of approval which the quick-sighted 
Cabot could not fail to note. 

But Henry was a cautious monarch and history 
credits him with holding a firm hand on his money 
chests. He might well have done so, for the coun- 
try was in terrible money straits when he came into 
power, but he kept great state in his household, was 
lavish in his hospitality, and generous to his family. 
He was a constant purchaser of rare books and 
costly musical instruments for the two Princesses 
who played the lute and the organ, and encouraged 
the fine arts with many a gift from the royal purse. 
Yet he was called miserly because he did not scatter 
gold abroad as recklessly as his predecessor. Still 
we must not forget that Richard had dark deeds to 
conceal, and money was often the price of silence; 
and that Henry's virtues were far ahead of the aver- 
age men of his day. However, when it came to the 
expense of fitting out vessels for purposes of dis- 
covery it is quitp true this wary monarch did hold 
back. 

It was all very well for Queen Isabella of Spain 
to sell her jewels for Columbus's benefit — the 
Queen of England certainly should not do so! 



66 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

If Master Cabot wished to venture on the seas he 
must find the means himself ; the King would grant 
him *' letters patent," giving him royal permission 
to undertake the voyages, and England would gra- 
ciously allow him to bestow upon her any new lands 
he might discover, but she would not be responsible 
for possible failure. Consequently John Cabot, glad 
to get this much of the royal good-will, set about 
his preparations with much energy. These *' letters 
patent " were granted on March 5, 1496, to John 
Cabot and to his three sons, " Lewes, Sebastyan, 
and Sancto, and to their heirs forever." 

It took quite a year's time after obtaining the 
King's permission before John Cabot was able 
properly to equip a vessel, — some historians say two 
vessels — but of this we cannot be sure. Knowing 
the many dangers on voyages of discovery, it does 
seem somewhat improbable that so wise arid able a 
mariner should have ventured out to sea with only 
one vessel and but eighteen men. Columbus took 
three vessels and had need of them all — but in 
Cabot's case it was different as the Crown bore no 
expense, and John Cabot might possibly have lacked 
the money necessary to man two ships. 

However, Cabot sailed from the port of Bristol 
in the Spring of 1497. There was not very much 
stir made about his going. The harbour was always 
full of shipping, and the departure of any vessel 
drew a crowd of loiterers and seamen. There was 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 67 

the usual sprinkling of women and children, there 
was the curious small boy of the Middle Ages study- 
ing the masts and rigging of the cumbersome vessels 
as the curious small boy of to-day studies the screws 
and chains and engines of our modem ships. 

At last the word was given. John Cabot, accom- 
panied by his son Sebastian, at that time about 
twenty-two or three years old, stepped aboard. The 
anchor was weighed and they were soon speeding 
toward the distant horizon-line. The mariners who 
watched the speck afar off were just beginning to 
understand that the horizon moved always with the 
moving vessel. Those on shore who watched the 
tips of the masts disappear had no fear now that 
the vessel had slipped over the edge of the earth, 
for had not Columbus proved by his voyages, and 
Master John Cabot by his charts, that the mysteri- 
ous earth on which they lived was round? And a 
vessel would naturally disappear from view if it 
went over a round surface, and though it all came 
dimly to many of these untutored minds, the great 
Admiral had done it. Master Cabot had promised to 
do it, and they put their faith in him like simple 
trusting children, and prayed to all their saints for 
his safe return. 

At the Court there was more interest. King 
Henry was waking up to the fact that Spain was 
flapping her wings over the sea as if she owned it 
and all the mysteries which lay beyond that dim 



68 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

horizon-line; that she was taking credit to herself 
that her clear-sightedness had recognised the worth 
of Columbus when England would have none of 
him. This was not really so. Columbus, it is true, 
worn out with years of waiting at the Spanish 
Court, had sent his brother Bartholomew to ask 
King Henry's aid; but the messenger was waylaid 
by pirates and never reached his destination. Save 
for that accident, England might have been re- 
sponsible for that first voyage — who knows ! 

At any rate, when the Spanish ambassador heard 
that John Cabot was about to sail for unknown 
lands, he wrote in all haste to Ferdinand and Isa- 
bella of Spain, and through this faithful servant the 
two rulers warned the King of England against 
encroaching on any of their new-found territory. 
Indeed John Cabot had no idea of going over the 
same course. In his mind, Columbus had failed to 
find the northwest passage to the Indies; he pro- 
posed to hunt for it and find it, and so open the 
way to fabulous wealth for England and a goodly 
share for himself. The wealth of the Indies has 
grown to be a common expression in these modern 
times, but in those days people spoke of the Indies 
with bated breath as a place where spices grew, and 
gold and silver and rich stuffs and precious stones 
abounded. It could be reached — of that all mari- 
ners were sure, and the northwest passage was the 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 69 

gateway toward which all adventurers were head- 
ing. 

When Spain sent her timely warning to King 
Henry, Cabot had already sailed, and for three 
months nothing was heard of the expedition. At 
length one day the port of Bristol was astir. The 
little ship had come back, and commander and crew 
were safe and sound. Had they found the north- 
west passage to India? That was always the first 
question. No, they had not found the passage, 
though they had steered for it at first. Then Cabot 
had ventured seven hundred leagues further west, 
striking a rugged coast-line that puzzled him greatly, 
just as Leif Eriksson and his men had been puzzled 
centuries before. John Cabot honestly thought that 
he had discovered the island of Brazil, the Seven 
Cities, and the Kingdom of the grand Khan, and 
England for a time went wild. He too was styled 
the Great Admiral, and walked the streets clothed 
in costly silks, nodding and bowing to the multitude. 
Soon after his return, August 10, he received a 
gift of ten pounds from the King — " to have a good 
time." And Henry, moreover, ordered the port of 
Bristol to pay him twenty pounds a year in recog- 
nition of his services. 

Now as a matter of fact our good John was en- 
tirely mistaken as to where he landed. He was not 
anywhere near Brazil, and the Kingdom of the 



70 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

great Khan was no kingdom at all so far as he 
could tell. He has given lis to understand that the 
first land he struck was on June 24, 1497, and he 
named an adjacent Island " St. Johns," because it 
was discovered on the saint's day of their landing. 
It is well known that mariners usually named their 
discoveries after the saint on whose day the event 
occurred, and as the day of St. John the Baptist 
occurs on June 24, we can be sure the landing was 
on the same day. 

If only dear old John Cabot had been as fair a 
writer as a mariner, we might have fallen heir to 
some real bits of truth concerning his voyage and 
his landing, and many little interesting facts con- 
nected with his discoveries. But the honest old sea- 
dog never thought of these trivial items; he was 
doing great things — he couldn't take time to " write 
them up." He left all the details to his son Sebas- 
tian, and as one historian has said of him : " Sebas- 
tian Cabot was a man capable of disguising the truth 
whenever it was to his interest to do so," and that 
gentleman, through all his writings, took good care 
never to mention his father's name in connection 
with any special discoveries. 

All we know is that he directed his course toward 
the North Pole, encountering great heaps of ice 
and long and continued daylight. After days of 
sailing in an opposite direction, he could see in the 
distance wooded shores free from ice, and towards 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 71 

these he steered, driven but of his path, as the 
Vikings had been driven before him, through dread 
of the cruel icebergs which had destroyed many a 
giant ship and had sent many a stalwart soul to the 
bottom of the sea. 

John Cabot was not a hero after the stern pattern 
of the old Norsemen. He was brave and fearless 
enough but he was a keen, prudent merchant above 
all things, and if the countries he might discover 
had no commercial value, why then they were noth- 
ing to him ! He had traded as a merchant of Bris- 
tol with Iceland and Norway, and these North 
countries no doubt talked much of Greenland, but 
it is fairly certain that not one of the navigators 
suspected that Greenland was anything but a penin- 
sula of Europe, and they were always trying to find 
some way around it to Asia, instead of trying to 
penetrate the vague coast line they could see for 
miles ahead. 

Now, while Cabot firmly believed that his first 
landing had been on an island, as Columbus before 
him had believed, it has been proved by learned and 
conscientious historians that a wonderful thing hap- 
pened when he touched land. Columbus discov- 
ered a New World when he planted the Spanish 
colours on the island of San Salvadore, and in 1498 
he plunged into the tangled forests of South Amer- 
ica. But John Cabot, when he came upon his 
** New-found-land," little knew that he would go 



72 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

down in the annals of history as the discoverer of 
North America. He never dreamed of such a thing 
when he headed away from the sharp fangs of the 
icebergs; he simply steered his staunch little ship 
southward along the coast, guarded at first by 
frowning crags and rocky shores, then by wooded, 
gently-sloping lands broken by streams and rivers. 

He left no record to tell us exactly where he first 
landed, though he brought home maps and charts 
and discoursed upon them; but centuries of careful 
research have proved beyond a doubt that Salem 
Neck, on the New England coast, was the spot — 
our chief guide being certain Indian names which 
clung to regions on account of their localities. At 
first he saw no inhabitants, but food was not lack- 
ing. The sea was so full of codfish that more than 
once the vessel had difficulty in forcing its way, and 
those who ventured upon the land found birds and 
game and wild animals. All these things John 
Cabot saw with his own eyes, and told the people 
of Bristol, who would have found it hard to believe 
if all the sailors had not said the same thing. For 
who was this Master John Cabot but a poor foreign- 
born mariner, who had promised them spices and 
jewels from Cathay? And after all he had not 
found the northwest passage — what was a mere 
little continent compared with that! 

Yet when the old sailor was summoned to Court 
in all his silks and fine laces, he found that Henry 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 73 

VII lent a willing ear to his story. The courtiers 
treated him with respect, the little princes and prin- 
cesses fixed their round eager eyes upon him when 
he talked of the new lands and the strange sights, 
and the King gave him ten pounds. We must re- 
member that Henry never rewarded unless the serv- 
ice had been great. Ten pounds does not seem 
such a large amount in these modern days when 
daring feats are performed and fortunes are be- 
stowed. But money was scarce in Henry's time, 
and for all the excuses we might make it is a gen- 
erally accepted fact that the King of England gave 
sparingly at best. 

However, John Cabot and King Henry were the 
persons most concerned, and they seemed satisfied; 
so much so that the King gave his royal grant for 
the fitting out of six vessels the following year. 
For England was not slow to grasp the fact that a 
new land could be hers for the seeking, and these 
Venetians — father and son — seemed only too will- 
ing to lend themselves to such an enterprise. 

Although the first grant was bestowed upon John 
Cabot and his three sons, " Lewes, Sebastian, and 
Sancto," the second was given to John Cabot alone, 
though Sebastian went with him on the voyage. 
Indeed, Sebastian is the only one who has ever 
been mentioned in connection with the discoveries, 
and there is no doubt that this clever young man, 
who accompanied his father everywhere, likewise 



74 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

accompanied him to Court, and whatever Sebastian 
may have done, it is to him alone v^e have to look 
for some account of the second voyage. Otherwise 
we would have had no word at all, as from that 
time men and history lost sight of John Cabot. 

The second voyage of the Cabots set forth in 
May, 1498, a goodly array of six ships manned and 
provisioned by the Cabots themselves. One of 
these ships put back to Ireland, but the others went 
dauntlessly on. The crews were not always picked 
men; they were often taken from the overflowing 
prisons, for the life of a criminal being of little 
value, it made no difference whether he was lost or 
not. So in this way a truly able commander was 
handicapped by the sullen natures with which he 
had to deal, and mutiny w^as no uncommon occur- 
rence. 

Whether John Cabot died of a sickness during 
the voyage or whether the desperate characters 
about him rose up against him — -who can say? 
It is highly probable that Sebastian, being on an- 
other ship, knew nothing of his father's death at 
the time it happened, and when he did hear of it, the 
threats against his own life may have tied his tongue. 
All we know is that John Cabot was in charge of 
the five vessels that sailed from Bristol in the Spring 
of 1498, and when they returned in the fall of 
the same year Sebastian was in command. John 
Cabot was dead and his son had nothing to say 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 75 

about it. What became of the wife and the other 
sons we can only guess. Bristol was merely the 
home of their adoption ; the poor bereft lady doubt- 
less went back to Venice with her oldest and her 
youngest boys, while Sebastian, though but the 
second son, seems to have fallen heir to whatever 
his father left behind him. 

Sebastian Cabot, whose word was not reliable, 
declared that the little fleet going in a northwesterly 
direction got into water packed with ice. This 
forced them toward the South, and they landed at 
last on a cold, bleak shore where people clothed in 
skins came running to meet them. The five ships 
landed their crews all along this coast. The na- 
tives were for the most part friendly, but the ex- 
pedition did not linger in these new waters. Se- 
bastian Cabot had no wish to explore the new coun- 
try. He was only anxious to get home and tell as 
many adventures as possible, and to open the eyes 
of the simple seafaring folk who would think him 
a great man. 

It is true he did inherit to a marked degree his 
father's talent for map-drawing, and so uncertain 
was the geography of the new region that Sebas- 
tian could impose any drawing on these easily de- 
luded people. He boasted of a third voyage across 
the Atlantic, in the reign of Henry VII, but was 
so very hazy as to dates that it was impossible to 
believe him. Yet the presence of three savages. 



j6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

whom he presented to the King, seems to prove 
that he had been to parts unknown. 

However that may be, Sebastian claimed the 
honour of presenting these savages at Court; but 
there is so much mystery about this last expedition 
that historians differ greatty. Indeed that wily 
gentleman's object seemed to be to puzzle his- 
torians, for after the death of Henry VII, in 1509, 
he moved to Spain (having married a Spanish lady) 
and offered his services as navigator to King Ferdi- 
nand. He was made Pilot Major of Spain, and 
from that time — what with accounts of voyages 
he never made and the drawing of maps that were 
wonderful works of art though doubtful guides — 
Sebastian Cabot grew to be a man of power and con- 
siderable wealth. 

In 15 17 it appears that another voyage was 
planned by Cabot, who went to England for the 
purpose, but no records have come down to us of 
such a voyage and it is hardly possible that Henry 
VIII, in the beginning of his reign, could have 
thought of anything outside of his kingdom and 
himself. The little Prince, with the sturdy legs, 
the small eyes, and the mouth with the cruel smile, 
was now monarch of England. He had no wish to 
discover new lands; his one desire was to hold his 
subjects in an iron grip, and if the high seas were 
open to them, many would escape his tyranny. 

There is an old chronicle written in metrical style, 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES ^J 

which gives us some idea of the wanderings of 
restless spirits like Cabot. In plain English prose 
it reads as follows : 

" To the northward on this side lies Iceland, where men 
fish — and beyond that it is so cold, men cannot live 
there. The sea is called the Great Ocean, and it is be- 
yond the power of man to measure its vastness. But 
within the last twenty years new lands were discovered 
toward the west — land which had never been heard of 
either by writing or any other means. Many have been 
there since, and have found the country vastly larger than 
the rest of Christendom. Many mariners have sailed along 
the coast for as much as five thousand miles, and what 
treasures this country holds — none can tell or imagine. 
Yet not long ago, with the King's consent, some men of 
England went to search for this land but never reached 
it; they were misled and betrayed by false promises of 
mariners who would not sail further than for their own 
lust and pleasure. Wherefore that voyage and many 
others the Caitiffs have destroyed. Oh ! what a thing it 
would have been if Englishmen had been first of all to 
take possession, to erect the first buildings and habitations 
— such a thing to remember — an honour to the King and 
to the realm — to have dominion over such distant terri- 
tory — which the noble King Henry VII, of late memory, 
was the first to find." 

This gives us some idea of what the English people 
thought of these many voyages that went forth and 
returned with nothing. John Cabot, had he lived, 
might have accomplished something. But Sebas- 
tian drifted first to Spain; then he stealthily offered 



78 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

his services to England ; afterwards there was some 
very shady correspondence with Venice, followed 
by a most disastrous voyage to the Rio de la Plata. 
Cabot's conduct on that expedition caused his ar- 
rest and trial on his return to Spain, but he was ac- 
quitted of all blame for any misfortune, and rein- 
stated in his high office. But Cabot owed allegiance 
to no country. With him it was always a question 
of money and advancement, and England was 
waking up on the question of navigation. Here 
his maps and charts, his experience and advice 
would have their weight. So he finally settled 
there, an old bearded man of much dignity and in- 
fluence, despite his many failures and misdeeds. 
Always with his finger in the pie of discovery, 
hoping like little Jack Horner to " pull out a plum/' 
Yet he discovered nothing beyond that first venture 
when old John Cabot had the helm and eighteen 
trusty seamen set foot on the shores of North 
America. 

For the rest of his life England was his home. 
He had lived in the reigns of three kings and a 
Queen of England, enjoying much honour and the 
title of Pilot Major of England. While he ac- 
complished nothing in the way of adding new terri- 
tory to the kingdom, and though at the last his great 
age held him back from new adventure, his was 
the hand that guided every movement toward the 
New World. 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 79 

It was Cabot who, in 1551, stiggested to the Mer- 
chant Adventurers that, after all, the passage to 
Cathay might be by way of the northeast instead 
of the northwest, and it was under the auspices of 
this Company and Cabot's advice that Sir Hugh 
Willoughby set forth on his ill-starred voyage. 
With three vessels, carefully chosen crews and com- 
manders, and thirty-three wise rules laid down and 
signed by Sebastian Cabot himself, as Governor of 
the Merchant Adventurers, it seemed as if good 
fortune would surely follow them. The names of 
the ships would almost seem to insure success ; they 
were the Bona Esperan::a, the Edzvard Bonavenfure, 
and the Bona Conildentia. 

The Bona Esperanza, commanded by Willoughby 
himself, was the flag-ship. The Edward Bonaven- 
Hire was commanded by Richard Chancelor, Pilot 
Major of the fleet, and the Bona Coniidentia, the 
smallest vessel of all, was in charge of Cornelius 
Durfoorth, master of the ship. There was also a 
Council, appointed by Cabot, of trusted men from 
all the ships to consult together in times of stress. 
So it seemed as if nothing could go amiss. 

They sailed from Ratsliffe on Wednesday, May 
lb, 1553, determined to find the longed-for passage 
to Cathay, Sir Hugh Willoughby, in the Bona 
Esperanza, leading the way with the Bona Con- 
Udentia. The faithful commander kept records of 
each day that drove them nearer and nearer into the 



8o THE TREASURE FINDERS 

jaws of death. From the loth of May till the i8th 
of September they were buffeted by the winds and 
the cold, having in the meantime lost the Edzvard 
Bonaventure entirely. According to Cabot's direc- 
tions, they made straight for the northeast and en- 
tered the Arctic Ocean. On September i8th, they 
reached what they thought was a sure haven, and 
they saw seals and huge fish, while on the mainland 
were bears, great deer, foxes, and other strange 
beasts. 

Here they determined to pass the Winter, living 
from day to day in hope of rescue, managing to 
keep alive in this desolate Lapland until some time 
in January, 1554, when to the last man they per- 
ished of the cold on board their two ships. Here 
they were discovered the next Summer by some 
Russian fishermen, and if we can believe in the old 
legends, " the corpse of Willoughby was found 
seated at a table in the cabin of the flag-ship, with 
a pan in his hand, the ship's journal before him, 
and all his companions around him in various life- 
like attitudes." 

The Edzvard Bonaventure was the only ship that 
returned to England, having drifted into Russian 
seas instead of the freezing Arctic Ocean, and 
through the White Sea back into English waters. 

Richard Chancelor, w^ho commanded the ship, 
opened in this unexpected way a trade with Russia 
which, though not the Cathay for which Sebastian 



FROM ENGLISH SHORES 8i 

Cabot hoped, held forth great hopes to the Mer- 
chant Adventurers who were incorporated under 
charter into a regular company during the reign 
of Philip and Mary. Cabot was made Governor of 
the new organization, which took the name of the 
Muscovy Company and whose trade soon spread 
over the known world, sending many adventurers 
across the great Atlantic. 

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the famous deeds 
of Sebastian Cabot gave the spur to Sir Francis 
Drake, Sir Martin Frobisher and, indirectly. Sir 
Walter Raleigh, whose exploits and discoveries are 
written down in the annals of history. 

In the years 1577-80, Drake passed the Strait 
of Magellan and, following the coast northward as 
far as some point in nothern California or southern 
Oregon, took formal possession of the country, 
calling it New Albion. Then, crossing the Pacific 
to the Molucca Islands, he returned to England by 
the way of Good Hope, thus completing the second 
sailing round the world, Ferdinand Magellan's being 
the first. 

About the same time, Sir Martin Frobisher made 
three voyages and entered the strait w^hich is named 
after him, also passing through Hudson's Strait in 
his vain search for a passage to Cathay. 

Thus through many reigns and many changes the 
hand of Sebastian Cabot was felt in England. He 
had given no new territory, he had brought no new 



82 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

treasure and much disaster into the country, but 
he had held a torch aloft to English seamen that 
made them look beyond the horizon-line which 
bounded their little country, and which sent them 
finally to the shores of the virgin world which the 
Vikings had deserted centuries before. 



CHAPTER IV 

THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 

AFTER the discoveries of Columbus, Spain 
might be pardoned for the arrogance with 
which she proclaimed herself mistress of the high 
seas and ruler of all the new countries at which the 
navigator touched in his four voyages. The claims 
of the Admiral himself, of his brothers and his 
sons were often set aside or forgotten, while the 
Spanish grandees squabbled over the acquisition of 
this new world territory. 

These lands were the islands which we have 
grouped together and called the West Indies, and 
they are not far distant from Central America, that 
fertile strip between the two great continents of 
North and South America. 

We know how the irregular coastline of North 
America narrows into Central America, which 
curves around the Caribbean Sea on its eastern side, 
while from the mountain peaks of Darien, the slen- 
der neck of land which dips down into South 
America, one can see the bright blue waters of the 
Pacific Ocean stretched out as far as the eye can 
reach. But no one knew that there was a sea of 

83 



84 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

such vastness until many years later when the great 
Admiral had given up the fight for power and lay 
quietly sleeping under the stones of the Franciscan 
Monastery at Valladolid, — forgotten for the time 
while eager adventurers over-ran his possessions in 
the New World. 

In 1509, three years after his death, his son Diego 
Columbus, accompanied by his wife, INIaria de 
Toledo, and a large force of loyal followers, came 
out to San Domingo to take over the government of 
what he justly considered his father's possessions. 
But King Ferdinand, while he spoke fairly, was 
underhanded in his dealings, and already two of 
his Court favourites had been sent on exploring voy- 
ages in the very region which by right should have 
been reserved for Columbus and his heirs. To 
these favourites Ferdinand gave the governorship of 
two provinces which he created for them. 

To the share of Alonzo de Ojeda fell the coun- 
try between the gulfs of Darien (or as it was then 
called Uraba) and Maracaibo: and to Diego de 
Nicuesa were given the Veragua and Honduras 
coasts from the Gulf of Uraba to Cape Gracias a 
Dios. The province assigned to Ojeda did not en- 
croach on the great Admiral's possessions, but that 
of Nicuesa certainly did, and the idea of appointing 
a governor for that region without so much as con- 
sulting the Admiral's family was nothing more nor 
less than an insult. 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 85 

Added to all this, these two favourites of the 
King, while both renowned and able men, were in a 
certain way adventurers and free lances. Soldiers 
of fortune we would call them to-day, — brave, reck- 
less, improvident, indeed not the men to have placed 
in their hands the reins of government. To begin 
with, there was rivalry between the two governors 
and both were heartily disliked by Diego Columbus, 
who refused to allow either to use the Island of 
Jamaica as a centre of supplies. So in the matter 
of obtaining food they decided somewhat unwisely 
to trust to luck, for the country was fertile and 
scarcity of food seemed the last thing to expect. 

Ojeda, with his well-manned, well provisioned 
ships, started first from Hispaniola, and had he 
kept straight on his way all would have been well. 
He reached the Gulf of Uraba — the seat of his 
territory — safely enough, and while not threat- 
ened with immediate famine, the food supply 
needed replenishing. So he rashly decided to go 
ashore with a force of men and catch a few slaves 
whom he could send back to Hispaniola in exchange 
for food. Hispaniola was one of the West Indian 
group of islands and already contained two settle- 
ments — San Domingo and Isabella. Now, the In- 
dians around the Gulf of Uraba had grown very 
cunning. Finding that their arrows were no match 
for the Spanish cross-bows and gunpowder, they 
rubbed poison on the tips, and even the chain armor 



86 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

of the Spaniards was not proof against this. So 
the result of Alonzo de Ojeda's sally was a loss of 
about seventy men, while Ojeda himself was picked 
up and carried aboard ship in a starving condition. 

Meanwhile Nicuesa, who had been delayed in his 
setting forth by a sudden arrest for debt (these ad- 
venturers were usually penniless and at the mercy 
of money-lenders), finally appeared upon the scene, 
and the plight of his former rival stirred his sym- 
pathy. The meeting was very cordial and many 
courtesies were exchanged. Then Nicuesa passed 
on to his territory, while Ojeda stopped at the en- 
trance of the Gulf of Uraba and began to build the 
town of San Sebastian. But famine scowled upon 
the land and the starving colonists would have gone 
any length to obtain food. It is not to be won- 
dered at that when a pirate ship touched this forlorn 
coast, and the captain talked of booty to be taken 
from the other islands, Ojeda decided to go with 
him in quest of supplies. He left his ships behind 
him, and it was understood that if he did not return 
within fifty days his men would be free to do as 
they pleased. He left in command of his desolate 
colony one Francisco Pizarro, a man of humble 
birth but destined to play a great role in the world's 
history. 

Poor Ojeda never did return. He had a sad time 
of it on the pirate ship among a gang of ruffians. 
Finally the ship was wrecked on the Cuban coast 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 87 

and at last, after long wandering, Ojeda, the bril- 
liant, dashing, reckless soldier, succeeded in reach- 
ing San Domingo more dead than alive. His 
friends turned from him, his party was scattered, 
there was nothing to live for, and so in misery he 
died, not knowing that even while the light of hope 
burned dim an expedition was hurrying across the 
gulf to aid the survivors of the expedition. 

Such was the fate of Nicuesa. Out of seven hun- 
dred men who had gone forth joyously from His- 
paniola in 1509, at the close of the following year 
only seventy remained huddled in a small block- 
house at the other end of the isthmus which they 
called Nombre de Dios. Famine and privation had 
turned them from men to wild animals seeking what 
they could devour, and it is small wonder that the 
unfortunate Nicuesa should have grown mad under 
the strain, as we shall see later. 

The first relief expedition from Hispaniola went 
in aid of Ojeda's colony of San Sebastian, proba- 
bly crossing the disheartened adventurer on his 
home mission. There were two ships loaded with 
provisions, horses and ammunition, and commanded 
by a lav^er, the Bachelor (lawyers were called 
bachelors in those days) Martin Fernandez de En- 
ciso, well known as a historian and geographer. 
Having invested some money in Ojeda's enterprise, 
he decided to take charge of the expedition and see 
for himself the state of affairs in San Sebastian. 



88 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

He was an honest man but obstinate and self-willed, 
not a fit person to command. 

The ships were full of barrels, some containing 
bread and other food, some filled with gunpowder, 
but in one of these barrels, quite unknown to the 
Bachelor Enciso, reposed the stalwart figure of a 
young man. How he got there no one told. But 
there he was, and when the vessel was well out at 
sea he climbed from his barrel and stood before the 
commander, a handsome, dashing cavalier. His 
name was Vasco Nunez de Balboa, as penniless as 
he was good-looking, and he had taken this rather 
original way of dodging his creditors. He was 
fond of adventure and he knew every body of water, 
every strip of land in this part of the world. And 
though Enciso was boiling with rage at the trick 
played upon him he had either to throw Balboa into 
the gulf or take him along. 

The first idea would have been rather foolish, for 
the young man had both experience and courage. 
Enciso decided to make use of him in rescuing the 
remnant of Ojeda's expedition at San Sebastian. 
This was a wise decision even though the narrow- 
minded, hard-headed old lawyer did not know how 
wise. His one object was to reach San Sebastian 
or at least to trace the wanderings of the little band 
wherever they might be. He found them at last 
in the harbor of Cartagena, crowded into a single 
unseaworthy vessel in command of Francisco Pi- 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 89 

zarro — thirty woe-begone, half-starved men — all 
that remained of the three hundred who went forth 
with Ojeda! Enciso was a Spaniard; he knew by 
past experience the treachery of his countrymen, 
and he hastily though at the same time naturally 
jumped to the conclusion that Pizarro and his men 
had murdered their leader. With some difficulty 
he was convinced that this was not the case, and 
learned of the disasters that had overtaken the colon- 
ists at San Sebastian, ending with the loss of one 
of their ships with every soul on board. 

Enciso decided to lead them all back to San Se- 
bastian, which he accordingly did. But his own 
ship struck on a rock before she was unloaded, and 
was lost. So with his own weakened force, taking 
refuge in Pizarro's ship, he entered San Sebastian. 
He found there nothing but a heap of ruins, the 
fort and the houses having been burned by the In- 
dians. This was enough to discourage the stoutest 
heart. But the heart of Vasco Nunez de Balboa 
was not fashioned that way; he had come because 
he loved adventure. Smooth sailing would not 
have suited him at all, and the difficulties which now 
confronted his companions had no terror whatever 
for him. He told them that across the Gulf of 
Uraba (or Darien as we know it now) lived a rich 
and powerful Indian tribe; they had many villages 
and much treasure, at which these avaricious Span- 
iards pricked up their ears. Gold was their watch- 



90 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

word; it meant power, it meant dominion, it meant 
everything to the explorers of that day. It meant 
nothing to Balboa but an accumulation of debt from 
which he had just mercifully escaped. Gold pieces 
never stayed with him ; he scattered them right and 
left when they came to his hand, and lived on his 
wits when his pockets were empty. 

Love of adventure, daring and boldness were the 
chief characteristics of this young Spanish grandee, 
tempered and softened by a certain nobility which 
has made him a marked figure in history. He 
wished to accomplish great deeds in this new world 
— not for the love of gold but for the love of his 
Sovereigns and for the glory of discovery. He had 
hovered about this coast of Darien ; he had a strange, 
romantic feeling that over the mountains that 
loomed in the distance, on the other side of the 
isthmus, lay something of vast importance. He 
never dreamed at that time of the great silent ocean 
waiting for his coming, but he felt that the more 
eagerly he pushed on towards those ever beckoning 
mountains the nearer he would get to his heart's 
desire. So he urged the despairing settlers of San 
Sebastian to quick action. They took advantage of 
fair weather, and after building several rough ships 
in which to cross to the other side of the gulf they 
embarked full of enterprise and hope, inspired by 
the enthusiasm of Balboa, determined to conquer 
and possess the Indian villages. 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 91 

They landed at the mouth of the Darlen River, 
and Bachelor Enciso, putting his men in material ar- 
ray, went forward to storm the Indian strongholds. 
The Indians saw them coming and prepared for 
battle. It was a desperate fight, for the brave 
chief, Zemaco, defended his people right valiantly. 
He sent the women and children to a place of safety, 
and with five hundred of his bravest warriors he 
scaled the wooded heights, and from this vantage 
ground could send his arrows and hurl his stones 
upon the enemy below. But they were no match 
for the warlike Spaniards. The Bachelor Enciso 
jvas no doubt a brave soldier and a great captain, 
even though he had his faults, and he led his men 
to a great victory. The warriors were soon put to 
flight and many of them were slain. The Span- 
iards entered the village, sacking and plundering 
everywhere. For months these half-starved sol- 
diers had never seen such plenty and so much gold ; 
it was just as Balboa had told them, and he became 
instantly the most popular man in the new settle- 
ment, to which the precise and formal Enciso gave 
the high-sounding name of Santa Maria de la 
Antigua del Darien. 

The settlers, elated over their victory, forgot for 
the moment that they had encroached upon the 
territory of Nicuesa. They remembered it how- 
ever when their leader assumed command of the 
new-made town and forbade all trading with the 



92 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

natives for gold. This did not please the adven- 
turers who v^ere after gold and plunder. 

Now, although Balboa was really above such 
things, he bore no good will to Enciso who, when 
the former emerged from the famous cask, had 
threatened to cast him on some desert island. So 
when he saw the men were dissatisfied, Balboa 
cleverly stirred them to rebellion. There is an old 
saying that " all's fair in love and war," and while 
according to our modern teachings Balboa's conduct 
may not have appeared very honourable, in those 
dark mediaeval days it is doubtful if this daring 
young adventurer had even a prick of conscience 
when the unpopular Bachelor Enciso was at last 
deposed by his advice. 

Then arose quarrels in the colony as to who 
should govern it. Some favoured Vasco Nunez 
himself; others, remembering the absent Nicuesa, 
thought the right should be held in trust until some- 
thing was known of his fate. In the midst of all 
the disturbance two ships arrived, commanded by 
one Rodrigo Colmenares, which had been sent out 
in search of the missing governor. This seemed 
an answer to their difficulties. Nicuesa was their 
lawful head, and if he could be found all would 
be well. Cruising along the coast toward the west, 
searching every bay and harbor, Colmenares dis- 
covered at last a brigantine belonging to Nicuesa 
at a small island in the sea. This vessel piloted him 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 93 

to the port of Nombre de Dios, where he found the 
unhappy Nicuesa living in abject misery, sur- 
rounded by a handful of haggard, gaunt men — all 
that remained of a once gallant and powerful band ! 

Colmenares was received by Nicuesa with joy 
and tears, but suffering and privation seem to have 
turned the brain of this once splendid courtier. He 
assumed the arrogant bearing of a governor already 
high in power, and the haughty nobles who had 
come to his rescue began to feel sorry that they 
had taken such trouble on his account. He had 
become so overbearing, even before he set sail, that 
when the people of Darien heard of his approach 
they were in a great panic. Then Balboa, the 
courtier, just at the right moment whispered the 
right word : " If you do not want Nicuesa as your 
governor there is no need to let him land," and this 
was the torch to the flame. 

Headed by the now popular Balboa, a great mul- 
titude assembled on the shore to wait the coming 
of Nicuesa. When, all unsuspecting, his ship hove 
in sight, he was warned by loud voices from the 
shore not to attempt a landing. In vain he en- 
treated but he received insulting replies and there 
were threats of violence should he disregard this 
warning. As night was coming on he was forced 
to put out to sea, but the next morning he returned 
and was foolish enough to land. Then in spite of 
Balboa's remonstrances, he was set upon by the 



94 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

people and chased over the island. Balboa him- 
self was surprised at the fury of the populace. 
Though he felt sorry for Nicuesa and for his part 
in the rebellion, he could do nothing for the un- 
happy governor who was at the mercy of the mob. 
They put him with his companions on board a 
crazy old ship, and turned them adrift into the sea. 
And that was the last seen of poor Nicuesa; he 
probably perished on some desert island. 

Vasco Nunez rose like a meteor to the highest 
place. At first he was blamed as being directly 
responsible for Nicuesa's undoing and his almost 
certain death, but that was of course absurd. 
There was one enemy, however, who caused Balboa 
no little trouble. The deposed Enciso used his 
bitter tongue whenever he could. Had Balboa 
been like other leaders of his time this annoyance 
would have been ended by the death of the quarrel- 
some Bachelor. But to kill a man in cold blood 
because he was disagreeable was not Balboa's way. 
What he wished to do was to put him out of Darien, 
to send him to the farthest corner of the earth. 
He should go back to Spain; and accordingly he 
was sent there guarded by one of Balboa's trusted 
friends. But the old lawyer gained the ear of the 
King and brought enough accusations against Balboa 
to cause Ferdinand some anxiety. Besides which, 
being a selfish and grasping monarch without the 
high thoughts and noble achievement of his consort 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 95 

Isabella, his mind was inflamed by the stories of 
Darien's riches. He really believed, as did all his 
courtiers, that gold could be fished up in nets from 
the river! 

He determined, therefore, to fit out an expedition 
for the apparent purpose of bringing Balboa to trial 
for the many crimes of which Enciso had accused 
him, but really to go a-fishing in these gold- 
embedded rivers, and to haul in treasure for the 
Spanish coffers. The commander of the expedi- 
tion was an old cavalier named Pedro Arias de 
Avila, a name shortened by the Spaniards into Ped- 
rarias. Under him were about twenty-five ships 
manned by two thousand souls — the largest en- 
terprise ever undertaken. In the train of Pedrarias 
were many noble gentlemen who were much better 
fitted to command than this irascible old fellow, al- 
ready over seventy. Chief among them was De 
Soto whose adventures later led him elsewhere. 
There were besides, Quevedo, the new Bishop of 
Darien, and Espinosa, the Judge. Pedrarias was 
also accompanied by his wife, a very high-minded 
and noble woman who later endeared herself to the 
colonists by her many acts of kindness. 

Meantime, Balboa, rid as he thought of a great 
pest, set himself earnestly to work to build up a 
substantial colony. He was more than the dashing, 
romantic cavalier; he was a sane and wise ruler, 
beloved no less among the people whom he led to 



96 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

victory against the savages than by the Indians 
themselves who, when captured by his soldiers, re- 
ceived mercy at his hands. This drew about him 
many Indian allies. 

Into the life of this hardy adventurer came sud- 
denly the glimmer of a romance. After the fate- 
ful disappearance of Nicuesa, Balboa sent two 
brigantines back to Nombre de Dios, the deserted 
settlement of the poor little governor, to rescue the 
few followers who had been left behind. They 
were only a handful of woebegone men, but they 
were overjoyed at leaving this dismal place. Coast- 
ing homeward on the shores of the Isthmus they 
picked up two more Spaniards, clad in skins and 
painted up like Indians. These explained that they 
had fled from Nicuesa's ships to escape punishment, 
and had taken refuge with an Indian chief named 
Careta, the Cacique of Coyba, by whom they had 
been well treated. But these faithless men, the mo- 
ment they found themselves among their country- 
men, were only too eager to betray their kind host. 
They fed the soldiers' avarice by tales of immense 
booty to be found in the chief's own dwelling, and 
it was decided to send one of the traitors to Balboa 
at Darien with this story, while the other stayed 
with the unsuspecting Careta, to be there at his be- 
trayal. 

Balboa was delighted at the news that there was 
so much treasure near at hand, and, gathering a 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 97 

large body of men, he marched to Coyba, where 
the chief received him with great hospitality. 
Vasco Nunez asked for provisions for his colony, 
and on being refused listened to the counsel of the 
Spanish outcast who had remained to betray his 
benefactor. He fell upon the Indians at dead of 
night, rousing them from a deep sleep to death and 
captivity. Careta, with his wives and children and 
many of his people, together with a hoard of pro- 
visions, was hurried on board ship and taken back 
to Darien. The poor, despairing chief, seeing his 
family in chains, sued for freedom, promising all 
the riches of his land and his undying friendship 
if Balboa would release them. Finally, as a last 
argument, he drew forward his daughter, a beau- 
tiful Indian maid. 

" She is yours," he said to the gallant leader, " if 
you do but free her people." Balboa, looking into 
the soft pleading eyes of the trembling girl, forgot 
victory, ambition, and all the countless deeds which 
made the sum of his daily life. Yet, poor little In- 
dian maid, through no fault of her own she was the 
cause of his tragic death at last! Careta and his 
people were restored to their lands and the most 
friendly relations always existed between them and 
the settlers at Darien. 

By this time Balboa knew from his friend in 
Spain that Predrarias was on his way to arrest 
and to try him for treason. Gradually all his 



98 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

sleeping passion for adventure and discovery awoke 
within him. If, before the coming of Predrarias, 
he could accomplish something that might add to 
the glory of Spain, he would reinstate himself in 
the favour of the sovereigns. He was ever looking 
upward toward the mountain peaks of Darien. 
Beyond those he knew lay something, and before 
Predrarias had time to cross the ocean he meant, 
to carry himself and his followers beyond the reach 
of prison and arrest. 

In one of his excursions through the country he 
came upon an Indian province of vast importance. 
It was called Comagre, and it was ruled by a chief 
of the same name. It was situated at the foot of 
a lofty mountain — a beautiful fertile plain of 
many leagues. The cacique, as the chief ruler was 
called, entertained Balboa and his followers with 
great hospitality. He had seven stalwart sons who 
all vied with one another in their attentions to the 
strangers. The eldest, — a specially fine young war- 
rior of keen intelligence — seeing that the Span- 
iards were avaricious, thought to gratify them by 
gifts of gold. Accordingly he gave to Vasco 
Nufiez four thousand ounces wrought into orna- 
ments of various sizes and shapes. Setting aside 
one-fifth for the Crown, which was his invariable 
custom, Balboa gave the rest to be divided among 
his followers, who immediately began to quarrel 
among themselves as to the size and value of each 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 99 

share. The young Indian was disgusted; he could 
not understand why men cared so much for gold. 
It was but a trifle, after all, fit only to be fashioned 
into those ornaments which made a warrior splen- 
did or a maiden fair. 

"If you love it so much/' he cried, "that you 
are willing to leave your homes and suffer hardships 
in the search for it, I can tell you of a region be- 
yond these lofty mountains where gold runs in 
many streams down the mountain-sides into a vast 
sea." This wonderful sea, he told them, could be 
viewed from the top of these mountains, and upon 
its blue waters were many ships. Many powerful 
kings ruled along its borders, and gold was so plenti- 
ful that men ate and drank from golden vessels. 

The greedy Spaniards smacked their lips, but 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa heard the word sea and 
thought no more about the gold. He eagerly ques- 
tioned the young chief and soon knew all the diffi- 
culties which lay in his path to the summit of the 
mountains. There were warlike savages to con- 
quer on the way; there were virgin woods to pene- 
trate; there were even cannibals to encounter, and 
countless perils of which the white men knew 
nothing. Above all, at least one thousand men 
would be necessary for such an undertaking. The 
menacing dangers of the expedition only stirred 
Balboa's enthusiasm the more. Now that he knew 
a great sea lay beyond the mountains, every hope and 



lOO THE TREASURE FINDERS 

desire pointed that way, and the offer of the young 
cacique to accompany him at the head of his father's 
warriors drew the two men together in a strong 
bond of friendship. Between them they planned 
the discovery of this great Southern sea. 

Having this fixed purpose in his heart, Balboa 
became a changed man, and through every subse- 
quent adventure his one object was to gain the 
friendship and good-will of people who would be- 
come his allies and would grant him men and pro- 
visions for the great undertaking. Many adven- 
tures had this son of Spain, so many indeed that 
his stalwart figure towers in history and flashes in 
legend. He was a man of marvelous prowess in a 
day of great deeds ; of singular courtesy and gentle- 
ness in a period when treachery and brutality were 
the common characteristics of the Spanish con- 
querors. Withal he had in view a noble ambition 
for which he was willing to lay down his hfe. He 
would find this sea beyond the mountains ; he would 
look down upon its waters; he would plant upon 
its shores the standards of his church and of his 
country. 

He wisely decided not to wait for the royal per- 
mission, but knowing that the Admiral, Diego Co- 
lumbus, was all-powerful in Hispaniola, he applied 
indirectly to him, and received, we are told, " a 
commission which clothed him with at least the 
semblance of royal sanction." Then he hesitated 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN loi 

no longer. He could not wait for a thousand sol- 
diers; before they arrived from Spain he might 
probably be in irons, so there was no time to be 
lost! 

He picked from the colony of Darien one hun- 
dred and ninety hardy soldiers, all devoted heart 
and soul to him and all aware of the dangers which 
they would encounter. Attached to this small but 
well-armed force were several blood-hounds which 
were sure and terrible allies in Indian warfare. 
One, named Leoncico, has been faithfully described 
by many historians; he was Balboa's body guard 
and specially attached to him, and his very name 
was a terror to the Indians. His ugly reddish- 
yellow body was scarred with wounds received in 
innumerable battles, and his black muzzle did not 
always hide the cruel teeth that did their deadly 
work. Besides the soldiers and the dogs, Vasco 
Nufiez took with him a good number of friendly 
Indians who knew the wild passes of the mountains 
and could talk the language of the mountaineers. 
So this handful of men set forth to find an ocean. 

Balboa embarked with his followers on Septem- 
ber 1st, 1 5 13, and sailed for Coyba, the dominion 
of his Indian wife's father, Careta. Here he left 
half his men, and with the other half he set forth 
to penetrate the wilderness which led to the moun- 
tains. It is needless to describe that difficult and 
toilsome march, — the terrible heat of the tropical 



I02 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

land ; the rocky precipices they cHmbed ; the tangled 
forests through which they struggled; the battles 
they fought. History gives no vivid accounts, and 
from our knowledge of Balboa we may perhaps 
understand how through thick and thin his men 
stood by him. Even though many sank by the 
way, the sixty-seven who remained, when at length 
they reached the foot of the long desired mountain, 
were vigorous and eager to reach the summit. 

The early dawn of September 26th found the 
resolute little party assembled under its shadow, 
each man filled with the spirit of discovery. The 
way to the summit of this frowning eminence was 
rugged and the toil was severe for men already 
tired out. But not one hung back. When at last 
they emerged from the dense woods into the open, 
there remained but the bald and barren summit of 
the mountain between them and their first glimpse 
of this unknown sea. Balboa motioned his men 
back; he had the right to scale that height alone, 
and they loved him so — these trusty followers — 
that they did not grudge him this crowning joy. 

Who can tell his feeHngs as his gaze swept the 
shimmering blue waters which stretched out as far 
as the eye could reach! For a few rapt moments 
he stood there lost in the wonder and the glory of 
it. Then he sank upon his knees and thanked God 
in a loud voice, while his followers crowded eagerly 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 103 

about him. Up on the mountain top men went wild 
with joy and wept and laughed and sang in the 
madness of it all, and praised their leader and em- 
braced one another and did many other unreason- 
able and ridiculous things. Truly, to find an ocean 
was as wonderful a feat as to find a continent, and 
Vasco Nunez de Balboa rose to the highest pin- 
nacle of greatness. 

For three days the little party busied themselves 
with erecting a huge cross on the top of the moun- 
tain, and preparing for the solemn ceremony of 
taking possession of the ocean in the name of the 
Sovereigns. On the 29th of September, with a 
banner in one hand and a drawn sword in the other, 
Balboa marched solemnly into the rolling surf, his 
followers streaming after him, and took possession 
of the ocean and of all the shores washed by its 
waves, in the name of the Spanish Sovereigns. It 
must have been a most impressive sight, and it Hved 
in the hearts of men long after Vasco Nunez had 
paid the forfeit. 

Even now men were planning his downfall. 
Even now the beautiful country he had governed 
so wisely was about to fall into the hands of an un- 
scrupulous governor who ravaged and pillaged and 
turned the hearts of the hitherto friendly Indians 
to bitter enmity. The one jewel that he guarded, 
his young Indian wife, was insulted by one who had 



104 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

been his friend. There were hard words between 
the men, and this false friend became the secret 
enemy who undid him. 

Relations were always strained between Balboa 
and the old governor, Predrarias. Balboa did not 
approve of his cruel Indian warfare and his way 
of ruHng the colony; so complained openly to the 
King in a straightforward, manly letter. This 
brought matters to a climax; the Governor was in- 
censed. Bishop de Quevedo patched up matters as 
well as he could by proposing a marriage between 
Balboa and the daughter of Predrarias, never 
dreaming that Balboa considered himself legally 
married to the Indian girl. But Balboa was the 
true knight of this forest child, and no one else had 
ever touched his heart. However, as the daughter 
of Predrarias was far away in Spain and her father 
seemed in no hurry about the marriage, Balboa 
allowed the proposal to stand. He set forth on his 
last famous expedition which was to carry the ma- 
terials for the building of four ships across the 
mountains, to a certain point where they were to be 
put together and launched on the Pacific. 

Ada was the new port where this stupendous 
work was carried on, and while busy among his ship 
builders Balboa's false friend, Garavito by name, 
whispered in Predrarias' too willing ear that Vasco 
Nunez never meant to marry his daughter; that 
he cared only for his Indian wife; and many other 



THE FINDING OF AN OCEAN 105 

false things which sealed Balboa's fate. He was 
sent for by the angry governor, and when, all un- 
suspicious, he hastened to obey the summons, he 
found himself enmeshed in a network of accusa- 
tions, each one of which pointed to treason. It was 
plain from the first that Predrarias wanted the life 
of his enemy and would have nothing else. De- 
fense was useless. Balboa from the first moment 
felt that he was lost. The old villain of a Gov- 
ernor, whose name has gone down in history as the 
emblem of all that was evil, thirsted for blood. 
And so was spilled, to gratify his hate, the best 
and noblest blood in Darien. 

History recalls no fouler murder ; history records 
few nobler lives; and, surely in those dark times, 
Balboa stood luminously forth. He was gentle, 
good, and true; he fought bravely, he lived nobly, 
he loved like a man, and he died like a hero. When 
his head fell, on that fateful morning, who gave a 
thought to the poor little Indian wife alone with 
her sorrow! Doubtles-s she found her way back 
to her people, and perhaps as the long, lonely years 
swept by she too may have climbed to the mountain 
top and looked down upon the broad bosom of the 
sea, and wondered and marvelled at the beauty of 
it. His sea it surely was, with its shimmering 
crests and foaming breakers — a monument to the 
memory of Vasco Nuiiez de Balboa! 



CHAPTER V 

THE MAN" WHO SAILED AROUND THE WORLD 

ANOTHER illustrious name closely following 
that of Balboa was Ferdinand Magellan, a 
Portuguese nobleman whose blue blood and high 
spirit prompted him to the undertaking of what, 
next to the voyage of Columbus, was the greatest 
feat accomplished by the early explorers — sailing 
round the world from one unknown sea to another, 
through dangers and difficulties scarcely to be 
credited. Unlike most of his predecessors and con- 
temporaries, he was virtuous, generous, and high- 
minded, often risking his very life for the safety of 
others. 

Pie was born twelve years before Columbus set 
forth on his first voyage, and all we know of him 
are the deeds of his mature manhood. Of his child- 
hood nothing seems very certain save that at an 
early age he was taken into the royal household. 
When he was twenty-five, a long leap of years be- 
tween the child and the man, we next hear of him 
as a volunteer in the Armada, which set forth to 
conquer the East; and after seven years of many 

io6 



ROUND THE WORLD 107 

adventures and hairbreadth escapes, he ceased to 
be an apprentice and became known and beloved 
among seafaring people. 

One of his adventures took him under the com- 
mand of one Sequeira, to Malacca, on the coast of 
Ceylon. It was the first time a European ship had 
ventured so far, but the spices tempted the captain, 
and he stopped there to take in a cargo of pepper 
and ginger. The Malays, a brown-skinned, cun- 
ning race, whose king was planning the destruction 
of the white traders, were allowed by the unsus- 
picious Sequeira to come on board their ships. All 
the small boats had been sent to the beach to col- 
lect the cargo, under the command of Francisco 
Serrano, and Sequeira, unconscious of any plot 
whatever, sat quietly playing chess on the deck of 
his own flag-ship. He was surrounded by the dark 
faces of his secret foes. It was a beautiful scene, 
we are told, of peace and sunshine, for homes rose 
from the hillside and the great citadel, with its bell 
tower, stood out clearly against the sky. At a 
given sign — a puff of smoke from this tower — 
the Malays were to fall simultaneously upon the 
men on the ship and those on the beach, and there 
was to be a general massacre. 

But a Persian woman in love with one of the 
officers betrayed the whole plot just in time, and 
Magellan, in the only boat left, rowed for the flag- 
ship, shouting *' Treason! '* in his mighty voice — a 



io8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

shout which echoed over the hills, upon the ships 
and along the beach. Serrano and a few of his 
men sprang into their boats and pushed out to sea, 
though most of their comrades were slaughtered on 
the beach as the signal came from the tower. Ma- 
gellan's shout, however, had saved Sequeira, and 
the Portuguese sailors fell upon the Malays and 
chased them from their decks. Poor Serrano 
would have had a bad time in the sea, with the light 
boats of the Malays pursuing, had not Magellan 
come to the rescue, battling with such fury that 
Serrano was saved. As soon as all the surviving 
Portuguese were safe on the ships, a regular battle 
took place, but the European guns routed the Ma- 
lays utterly. 

After this episode, Magellan and Serrano became 
the most devoted friends, and it was through this 
friendship that Magellan's fancy for the sea took 
root and grew into the most wonderful voyage that 
history records. Spurred by Serrano's love of 
roaming the high seas and fighting pirates, if noth- 
ing else, a strong desire seized Magellan to go 
also into the new world, to seek for some passage to 
Cathay, although he had come to learn something 
more about the ocean stretching between the Malay 
seas and the new world. 

For some unknown reason, he had to return to 
Lisbon, where he spent the mid-summer of 15 12. 
He was eager to get back to the Indies, but some- 



ROUND THE WORLD 109 

how or other he had found himself out of favour 
at the Court. So he offered his services to his 
country to fight the Moors in Morocco, and a 
Moorish lance wounded him in the knee, leaving 
him lame for life. 

After that the King seemed to have no further 
use for him, so he became absorbed in map-making 
and the study of navigation which he soon mastered 
to the highest degree. Thinking of his friend 
Serrano, stationed at the Molucca Islands, Magel- 
lan arrived at the conclusion that he could reach 
them as well by a westward voyage as by going 
towards the east, and that there must be some pass- 
age. This idea was first submitted to King 
Emanuel of Portugal, but he was either too lazy 
or too cautious to be drawn into it, and his rejec- 
tion of it only showed how true is the saying that 
a man is never a prophet in his own country. Ma- 
gellan had either to abandon his whole project or 
turn to some other country for help. He told the 
King this, in his frank, bold fashion, and the King 
said he might do as he pleased. So Magellan 
straightway decided to offer his services to Spain, — 
lucky Spain who always came in for golden op- 
portunities ! 

In October, 1517, Magellan reached Seville and 
was the guest of Diego Barbosa, a Portuguese gen- 
tleman who had been serving Spain for many years, 
and whose daughter, Beatrix, became Magellan's 



no THE TREASURE FINDERS 

wife. As the young couple were married before 
Christmas, there must have been an eager and an 
ardent courtship. 

When Magellan was invited to the Court of 
Charles V of Spain, he went accompanied by his 
young wife, and found much favor in the eyes of 
the boy King, even obtaining the support of that 
wicked old Bishop Fonesca who had been the ruin 
of Columbus. It was finally agreed to fit out an 
expedition under Magellan's command, and it took 
over a year to equip the five small ships allotted to 
him by the Spanish government. They were not 
only small but they were old and much the worse 
for wear. It seemed to be the aim of those en- 
terprising countries to keep their best ships at home 
and to send all the old tubs across the water; in 
case of their possible loss their owners would not 
then be out of pocket. For this same reason, the 
crews consisted for the most part of jailbirds and 
criminals, or at best unscrupulous adventurers who 
hesitated at no evil deed. 

The five ships were. 

The Trinidad, commanded by Magellan. 

The San Antonio; Captain: Juan de Cartagena. 

The Concepcion ; Captain : Caspar Quesada. 

The Victoria] Captain: Luis de Mendoza. 

The Santiago ; Captain : Juan Serrano. 
And out of this group of Captains there was but 
one in whom he could implicitly trust ; and that was 



ROUND THE WORLD iii 

Juan Serrano, the brother of his dearest friend. 

The seeds of mutiny had already been sown by 
the wily King of Portugal, who, finding that Ma- 
gellan had kept his word and that the Spanish ex- 
pedition was ready to set forth, did all in his power 
to prevent it, even descending so low as to hire 
ruffians to waylay and murder him. But Magellan 
was above all petty fears, and, in truth, the 
mariner's rugged features, his firm, iron jaw, his 
beetling, shaggy brows, were awe-inspiring to evil- 
doers. Above all, he had an iron determination, 
and was the very man to command the motley crew 
he had, — two hundred and eighty men in all, Span- 
iards and Portuguese, Genoese and Sicilians, Flem- 
ings and French, Germans and Greeks, one English- 
man from Bristol, and a few negroes and Malays. 
On the Portuguese he could rely implicitly, for they 
had cast in their lot with him when he left his coun- 
try, and. their watchfulness shielded him while 
ashore. 

The little fleet sailed from the mouth of the 
Guadalquiver River on September 20, 15 19, and 
three of his under Captains, Cartagena, Mendoza, 
and Quesada, had treason in their hearts and scat- 
tered it broadcast among their crews. 

The good Barbosa and the lady Beatrix, Magel- 
lan's wife, who with her little son had been left be- 
hind, were terribly anxious. Barbosa sent a spe- 
cial caraval after the Trinidad with an urgent mes- 



112 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

sage to Magellan to be watchful, for his Captains 
had determined to kill him should any dispute arise. 
But Magellan sent word to his father-in-law to be 
of good cheer; he was not afraid, and he would do 
his duty, whatever happened. 

The chief record of this wonderful voyage was 
kept by the Chevalier Antonio Pigafetta, a gentle- 
man from Vicenza, who went for the adventure, 
" for to see the marvels of the ocean," as he said. 
Indeed, these old records, handed down to us 
through the centuries, were, after all, the real his- 
tory of our country. 

The little fleet left the Canaries on October 3d, 
and ran toward Sierra Leone, where they were be- 
calmed for three weeks. Later, storms drove the 
frail ships before them, and during this time, water 
grew scarce and rations were cut down, and there 
were rumblings of mutiny already. 

The Spanish Captains began to whisper that a 
deserter from one country could not have the in- 
terests of another at heart, and that this man from 
Portugal was not loyal to the Emperor. The 
three traitors became very arrogant; Cartagena 
forgot himself and threatened and insulted the 
Commander-General on board the flag-ship. Ma- 
gellan did not hesitate a moment; he was always 
quick and decisive in acting. Cartagena was put in 
irons and sent a prisoner to the Victoria, whose 
Captain unfortunately was one of the traitors. 



ROUND THE WORLD 113 

The command of the San Antonio was given to an- 
other officer. This was a severe punishment which 
kept things quiet for a while. 

By January, they had reached the coast of South 
America, at the mouth of the Rio de la Plata, but 
it was too broad to be the strait which Magellan 
was seeking. During February and March, they 
found themselves along the coast of Patagonia, the 
prey of winds and storms, and so unbearably cold 
that they were forced to seek a sheltered harbor 
at Port St. Julian, where at least they had plenty 
of fish. But the unusual hardships of the voyage, 
added to the men's villainous tempers, brought on 
the mutiny. They insisted there was no strait to 
be found. Food was becoming short and they 
clamoured to return to Spain. There had been too 
much strain on their worn-out ships, and so they 
had excellent excuse for turning back. 

But Magellan had no ears for this sort of talk; 
nothing short of performance could be considered. 
li he could stand hardships, so could they; they 
would sail on until they found a strait or the very 
end of the continent. He pointed out to them the 
rich reward for the success of their labors, and he 
used neither sternness nor threats as he talked to 
them; but he was determined for all that. His 
arguments held good while the storm raged and 
there was work to do, but when they halted for the 
winter, as they were forced to do, the evil-minded 



114 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Captains whispered among the crews that Magellan 
was about to lead the Spanish ships to their de- 
struction. Being a Portuguese, he would naturally 
serve his own King first. Finally, their dastardly 
plans began to take shape. The traitor Captains, 
Quesada of the' Concepcion, Mendoza of the Vic- 
toria, and Cartagena, the deposed officer of the 
San "Antonio, boarded that vessel on Easter Sun- 
day (April i) and put Alvaro de Mesquita in irons. 
Mesquita was Magellan's cousin and the officer in 
command. They put one of the mutineers in his 
place, and disarmed the loyal sailors in the crew. 
AH this was done so quietly that Magellan, on the 
Trinidad, heard nothing of what was going on. 

The next morning, feeling that three of the five 
ships were in their hands, the traitors felt that they 
could now go back to Spain if they chose; but to 
make their work good they must capture the Trini- 
dad and murder the Commander. The little 
Santiago, under Serrano's command, would then 
become easy prey. 

Magellan first knew that mutiny was brewing 
when one of his ship's boats was ordered insolently 
away from the San Antonio, with the remark that 
Magellan no longer had command of that ship. 
When Magellan heard this, he sent the boat in turn 
to the other ships, and soon learned that the Santi- 
ago alone was faithful. 

The next move of the traitor Captains was to 



ROUND THE WORLD 115 

send a message to Magellan to confer with them. 

" Very well," replied Magellan, " only any confer- 
ence must be held on my flag-ship." He spoke firmly, 
but the revolting Captains knew it was more than 
their lives were worth to venture within the grasp 
of the irate Commander. They even had the im- 
pudence to insist that he should come on board the 
San Antonio. All his bull-dog resolution rose. 

Magellan believed that the Victoria was not quite 
so opposed to him as the other ships ; consequently 
he made his first attack in that quarter. He armed 
a boatful of trusty men: — a score at least — with 
Barbosa, his wife's brother, at their head. These 
he held in readiness while he sent out another boat 
containing Espinosa, his constable, and five assist- 
ants, whose order was to bring Mendoza, the Cap- 
tain, to the flag-ship. He refused to go, and Es- 
pinosa sprang upon him and plunged a dagger into 
his throat. As he fell dead, the other boat came 
dashing up, and there was a wild fight on the deck 
of the Victoria, ending in the complete triumph of 
Magellan, who now had three ships under his com- 
mand. So the two rebellious ones were soon sur- 
rounded. Barbosa in command of the Victoria, 
Serrano on the little Santiago, and Magellan him- 
self on the Trinidad, attacked the San Antonio first, 
capturing Quesada and his men. Summary jus- 
tice was dealt here. Quesada was beheaded, and 
the unruly crew reduced to submission. The Con- 



ii6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

cepcion, hearing of this surrender, did Hkewise. 
Magellan contented himself with casting the Cap- 
tain, Cartagena, with Pero Sanchez, a guilty priest 
who had helped to stir up the mutiny, on the desert 
coast of Patagonia, to meet whatever fate was in 
store for them. All the other mutineers were par- 
doned and there was no more open revolt. 

During the winter, however, the little Santiago, 
being a poor craft at best, was wrecked while recon- 
noitering, and her men were only rescued after 
dreadful sufferings. Serrano, the Captain, then 
took command of the Conccpcion. 

It was the 24th of August before spring came 
to that desolate land, — the land of giants as it was 
called, for the Patagonians, men and women, aver- 
aged six feet or more in height. On that day, the 
four ships, having been repaired and overhauled, 
proceeded on the long-deferred voyage. It was not 
until October 21st, after encountering violent storms 
on the way, that they entered a large bay called by 
Pigafetta in his Journal " the straight of Magel- 
lanus." 

It was so much larger than any one had imagined! 
that no one could believe it was merely a strait. 
That it was a sort of channel, connecting the great 
ocean through which they had sailed with some 
large body of water unknown, was a certainty in 
Magellan's mind. It was what he had been seek- 
ing, but it was so full of labyrinths and turnings 



ROUND THE WORLD 117 

and twistings that it took this experienced mariner 
five weeks to find the right way out into the open 
sea beyond. Meanwhile, the malcontents on board 
the San Antonio were stirring again. Again Mes- 
quita, the Captain, was put in irons, and quietly 
and stealthily the ship turned her prow towards 
Spain and stole away in the mazes of the strait, 
reaching home at last after a voyage of six months. 
When safely in harbour they screened themselves by 
telling all manner of lies about Magellan and his 
work. 

Magellan, rejoicing over the finding of the strait, 
and thinking that the missing ship was lost, planted 
a cross on top of one of the high, over-shadowing 
hills, to guide them should they pass that way. At 
length his own crews became dissatisfied and sug- 
gested that they go back to Spain and rest content 
with what they had discovered. But Magellan, 
firm and resolute, declared that he would go on and 
do his work "if he had to eat the leather off the 
ship's yards." 

It must have been a great day of triumph for 
Magellan when at length he reached an opening in 
the strait, through which he could see the broad, 
shimmering, peaceful waters stretched out as far 
as the eye could reach. His soul rejoiced, and he 
called this ocean, for so it looked, by the name it 
still bears, — the Pacific. And now came the worst 
experience they ever had — this crossing of a Sea 



ii8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

of Darkness, more dread because more unknown 
than that Columbus had crossed. 

Provisions were growing scarce, so scarce in- 
deed that at length Magellan's prophecy about eat- 
ing leather came true. For here, translated into 
English, we have Pigafetta's word for it: "And 
having in this time consumed all their biscuit and 
other victuals, they fell into such necessity that they 
were in forced to eat the powder that remained 
thereof, being now full of worms. . . . Their 
fresh water was also putrefied and become yellow. 
They did eat skins and pieces of leather which were 
folded about certain great ropes of the ships." 

He further describes how this leather was hung 
by a cord in the sea for four or five days before it 
was soft enough to eat. There was intense suffer- 
ing on board the ships, but there was no way of 
escape except to go forward. To go back meant 
certain death, and deliverance might come at any 
time by pressing on. The sailors were too sick to 
mutiny; many had died, and all were so weak they 
could hardly lend their feeble aid to run the ships. 
But Magellan's stout heart never once gave up the 
fight, and after months and months of suspense 
he came, on March 6, upon a group of islands where 
the dreadful suffering was ended; for fruit and 
vegetables and meat could be had in great quanti- 
ties. These islands they called the Ladrones, or 
the Isles of Robbers, because the savages, while 



ROUND THE WORLD 119 

friendly enough, were unmitigated thieves, steaHng 
whatever they could lay their hands upon. 

On March 16, the three ships arrived at what 
we now know as the Philippine Islands, and Magel- 
lan and his men were the first Europeans to land 
upon them, though Eastern traders from China, 
Siam, and Sumatra were encountered there. Thus 
it was that Magellan dimly began to understand 
what a feat he had accomplished. He had sailed 
around the world, for his nautical knowledge told 
him that the Moluccas, the islands he wished to 
reach, were almost at his hand. He would soon 
see his friend, Francisco Serrano, and his iron heart 
leaped for joy. 

But alas for all his short-lived hopes! He had 
braved untold dangers of the seas and the more 
dreadful dangers of his mutinous crews; he had 
conquered hunger and disease and death; and yet 
it was ordained that he should never carry the tale 
of his own triumph to Spain. 

The sight of all the savages who inhabited the 
islands aroused in Magellan the spirit of the mis- 
sionary, and he determined to convert these child- 
like creatures. He came from a country where 
religious persecution was deemed necessary if other 
methods of conversion failed, and Portugal was 
not far behind the cruel fanaticism of Spain. He 
made a treaty of alliance with the King of Sebu, 
one of the Philippine Islands, and he and his people 



120 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

were only too eager to make bonfires of their idols 
and embrace Christianity. 

Elated with his success, Magellan pushed his 
crusade against the savage tribes on the other 
islands, but, in spite of the King of Sebu's powerful 
help, did not succeed so well elsewhere. The royal 
savage, however, wished to use his new-born re- 
ligion to humble his enemies. He thereupon, as a 
Christian King, demanded homage of the pagan 
King of Matan, another island of the group, and 
this being scornfully refused, the King of Sebu ap- 
pealed to his ally, Magellan, who straightway un- 
dertook a crusade against this heathen. 

Secure in the sense of doing his duty, honest and 
upright, and wishing to protect his new convert, and 
show him the almighty power of the God he had 
promised to worship, this brave mariner, this no- 
ble gentleman, " without fear and without re- 
proach," ventured forth properly to punish and 
finally to convert the people of Matan. 

He crossed over to the island from Sebu on 
April 27, 1 52 1, and found the natives assembled 
and ready for war. He was amazed at the over- 
whelming force of them. There was a desperate 
fight, but the Spaniards were outnumbered and 
obliged to retreat to their boats. 

Always brave as a lion in battle, Magellan cov- 
ered their flight with his own body, until his helmet 
was knocked off. With his right arm disabled 



ROUND THE WORLD 121 

by a spear thrust, a blow brought him to the ground, 
and the yelling, victorious savages fell upon him in 
a body, hacking him to death with all their weapons. 
Thus perished " our mirror, our light, our com- 
forter, our true guide," writes the faithful chroni- 
cler Pigafetta. 

The noble King of Sebu, seeing the disastrous 
battle from afar, decided that after all there was 
no good in Christianity. So in order to atone for 
the slight he had put upon his gods he cordially in- 
vited the leading Spaniards to a banquet, where 
they were cruelly slain. Among the men thus 
butchered were the faithful Captains Serrano and 
Barbosa. The remaining Spaniards took to their 
ships as quickly as they could, and as they sailed 
away they could see the savages chopping down the 
cross and going through their heathen, grotesque 
ceremonies. 

And so the dispirited explorers turned home- 
ward. Of the two hundred and eighty men who 
set out on this famous voyage, only one hundred and 
fifteen remained; of the five ships, only two. The 
San Antonio deserted, the Santiago was ship- 
wrecked. The Concepcion before sailing from the 
island of Sebu was pronounced unseaworthy, dis- 
mantled, and burned to the water's edge. The 
Trinidad and Victoria made the best of their sad 
way homeward. 

When the two ships reached the Moluccas, they 



122 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

found that Magellan's friend, Francisco Serrano, 
had been murdered by order of one of the savage 
kings about the same time that Magellan himself 
had fallen in the fray at Matan. What suffering 
these poor seamen endured can never be recorded! 
It had taken the two remaining ships nearly a year 
after Magellan's death to equip themselves for the 
perilous journey home. There v^ere now only one 
hundred and one men surviving. Fifty- four were 
destined for the Trinidad, and forty-seven for the 
Victoria. 

The Trinidad had the worst time. Driven by 
contrary winds, she lost her main-mast and had to 
put back to the Moluccas with all but nineteen of 
her crew drowned or starved, and these poor crea- 
tures were seized by the Portuguese on shore and 
shamefully treated. Only the Captain, Espinosa, 
and three of the crew lived to see Spain again. 

The little Victoria was equally unfortunate, but 
her one definite object was to steer for home. 
Driven by necessity to stop at the Cape Verde 
Islands, their desire was to keep the story about 
Magellan and his discovery from the knowledge 
of the Portuguese inhabitants; but the secret was 
betrayed by some of the men who had been sent 
ashore for rice. These men were promptly ar- 
rested and the Victoria was called upon to surren- 
der, but she " stretched every inch of her canvas 
and got away." This was the thirteenth of July, 



ROUND THE WORLD 123 

and on the sixth of September, just thirty years 
from the day Columbus weighed anchor for Ci- 
pango, the poor Httle battered Victoria sailed into 
Guadalquivir with only eighteen gaunt and hag- 
gard men to tell the direful story of this first voyage 
round the world. 

Magellan was indeed, as historians have called 
him, the prince of navigators. Through un- 
dreamed-of hardships, with unseaworthy ships and 
untrustworthy crews, he attempted and accomp- 
lished this wonderful voyage, and in all his fair 
and open life there was nothing to excuse and 
nothing to hide. 

Had there been any surviving members of his 
family, they would certainly have received the 
proud crest granted to the Captain, Eleano, who 
brought in the Victoria — a man who little deserved 
it since he had been one of the early mutineers. 
It read in Latin, Primus circumdcdisti me, which 
translated means Thou first encompassed me, and 
this legend was belted round a globe. But there 
was no one to inherit the honors of Magellan. His 
Httle son, Rodrigo, died in September, 1521, and by 
March of the following year the gentle wife, who 
had heard of the fate of both her husband and 
brother, died we are told " grievously sorrowing." 

Although the glowing picture of Balboa plunging 
into the great " South Sea " as he called it and 
taking possession of the waste of waters in the 



124 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

name of Spain stands vividly forth in our minds, 
even more vivid is the image of the intrepid sailor 
piloting his little ships across the unknown Pacific, 
trusting in God and looking no further than his 
duty from day to day. Surely the name of Magel- 
lan sheds a great white light on the history of the 
world ! 



CHAPTER VI 

THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 

WHEN Don Diego de Velasquez was Gov- 
ernor of Santiago de Cuba, he was eager 
to add new territory to Spain's already tremendous 
possessions in the New World. The adventures of 
one Hernandez de Cordova, who sailed from Cuba 
in 1 5 17 and discovered the peninsular known to-day 
as Yucatan, roused the Governor who had longings 
and dreams of conquest. 

He determined also to fit out an expedition in 
quest of riches and fame, and he accordingly got 
ready four vessels under the command of his 
nephew, Juan de Grijalva, to follow in Cordova's 
footsteps, to penetrate farther and add more terri- 
tory to the Spanish crown. In May, 15 18, the 
young explorer set forth, and reaching the gulf, 
was the first to land on the shores of Mexico and 
to have any intercourse with the hitherto unknown 
nation of the Aztecs. He also discovered several 
islands, among which was San Juan de Ulua, in 
the present harbour of Vera Cruz, where a year 
later Cortes and his caravels found anchor. But 

125 



126 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Grijalva overstayed his time, and Velasquez im- 
patiently recalled him. He then decided to or- 
ganise another expedition, and casting about for a 
leader, his choice fell upon Hernando Cortes, a 
young Spaniard who had not only brains but money 
and a keen adventurous spirit, — of all the Spanish 
explorers and conquerors the most noted in song 
and story. 

Seven years before Columbus set forth on his 
first famous voyage, little Hernando or Fernando, 
as he is variously called by historians, saw the light 
in the town of Medellin, in Estremadura. No 
doubt the small boy heard much of the great Ad- 
miral, and as his father, Martin Cortes y Monroy, 
was a captain of light cavalry in the service of their 
Christian Majesties, Ferdinand and Isabella, doubt- 
less also he heard much of war and fighting. There 
have been many efforts to prove that the boy had 
noble blood in his veins, but it seems that, though 
his family was most respectable, it could boast 
neither of rank nor of fortune. Little Fernando's 
first battle was with a very delicate constitution ; he 
was a sickly boy, and it is very probable that in the 
fear of losing him, his parents " spared the rod and 
spoiled the child," for he grew up to be a head- 
strong youth. 

At the age of fourteen, being of unusually active 
mind, his parents decided to educate him for the 
law, and sent him to the University of Salamanca, 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 127 

where he stayed two years and took his degree at 
the age of sixteen. The law was considered a very 
honourable profession in those days, and Cortes's 
parents congratulated themselves upon so firmly 
securing their son's future. But Fernando, being 
a person of many surprises, discovered that he had 
no taste for such a career. His spirit was restless, 
and he hungered for arms and a life of adventure. 
Instead of becoming a rising young barrister, as his 
parents had hoped, he idled away his time and fairly 
threatened to disgrace them by his many escapades. 
Possibly it was a great relief to them that he had a 
wandering disposition and did not wish to live in 
Medellin. His first idea was to take service under 
the great military captain, Gonzalvo de Cordova, 
but adventures beyond the mysterious sea had even 
a greater attraction. 

A friend of the family, Don Nicolas de Ovando, 
had recently been appointed Governor of the Ameri- 
can Hispaniola and was about to sail in great state 
with a fleet of thirty ships. Young Cortes decided 
to join this expedition, but on the eve of sailing 
he had a fall, the result of some wild prank, and 
his bruises kept him in bed long after the fleet had 
gone. He then determined to join the army of 
Gonzalvo, which was in Italy, and when he had re- 
covered he set out for Valencia, Intending to enlist. 
He was gone for a year or two, and then, like the 
proverbial " bad penny," he turned up again in 



128 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Medellin where his parents, by this time glad to 
be rid of such a wayward son, agreed to give him 
enough money to follow Ovando to Hispaniola. 

Madcap and roisterer though he was, there were 
two virtues which always shone forth in the life 
and character of Fernando Cortes. One was a 
strong religious streak, the other an absolute and 
unquestioning loyalty to his sovereign and devo- 
tion to his country. These points must be remem- 
bered as we follow the bloody trail of his conquests. 
He lived in a century when the Catholic Church 
ruled the world. " Their Catholic Majesties " 
King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella delighted in 
being called, showing how they themselves placed 
the Church far above their whole united kingdom. 

Spain was noted for the iron hand with which 
she forced her people to embrace " the true faith." 
The men whom she sent forth to conquer the un- 
known nations of the New World were enjoined to 
tear down and demolish the idols of the heathen, 
and either to convert him or let him die the death 
of the unbeliever. 

It was in this spirit that the Spanish explorers 
set forth, guided by signs and omens and saints 
and priests. St. Peter was the patron saint of 
Cortes from his birth, being chosen for the baby, 
as was the custom of the time, by the casting of 
lots, and Cortes firmly believed that the success of 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 129 

every hazardous undertaking was dependent upon 
the good-will of the saint. 

Commending himself therefore to the protection 
of St. Peter, he sailed in a trading vessel from the 
port of San Lucar de Barrameda, in 1504. There 
were five vessels in the little fleet, all heavily laden 
with merchandise for the Indies. Their course 
was by way of the Canary Islands, but these frail 
ships were always at the mercy of wind and 
weather, and this was a season of tempests. The 
bold mariners lost their bearings, and the storm- 
tossed vessels had little hope of ever reaching a 
haven. 

At last, on Good Friday, so the story runs, when 
all were in despair, a dove suddenly appeared to 
them, perched on the ship's rigging, possibly some 
descendant of the dove who bore the olive branch 
to Noah after the flood. Wisely arguing that this 
dove must have flown from land, the little fleet fol- 
lowed its flight, and land was sighted on Easter 
day. Four days later they reached the port of 
Santo Domingo, and Cortes first set foot on Ameri- 
can soil. 

The dove was regarded by the superstitious as a 
bird of good omen and a manifestation of divine 
guidance, and Cortes himself was impressed with 
this idea. He was hospitably received in Santo 
Domingo, but it was not his intention to settle down 



I30 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and improve the land. The blood of the fighter 
was in him, and the love of adventure rose to fever 
heat when he heard of the unknown regions as yet 
unexplored by the white men. Besides, as he ex- 
plained, he had come to hunt for gold and not to 
till the soil, and to hunt for gold meant to battle 
for it and to conquer the savage tribes who used 
the precious metal for their rude ornaments. 

His friend the Governor was absent on his ar- 
rival, but on his return to Santo Domingo he 
showed special favour to the ambitious young man, 
and sent him forth on many of the warlike expe- 
ditions which were necessary to quell the frequent 
risings of the hostile native tribes. For by this 
time they had changed from the friendly, won- 
dering and child-like savages they once were. 
Goaded by the cruelty and treachery of the Span- 
iards they had become veritable demons, intent on 
the most barbarous warfare, killing and eating their 
captives with the most blood-curdling ceremonies. 

It was during this early service in quelling some 
petty insurrection that Cortes came under the com- 
mand of Diego Velasquez, a Spanish captain who 
had won renown in his own country and who had 
crossed the sea for greater fame and adventure. 

Cortes settled down meanwhile in the newly- 
found town of Azua, where he was appointed 
notary. But a quiet life w^as the worst thing in 
the world for his restless soul; he was continually 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 131 

getting into mischief of one kind or another. 
Duels were of frequent occurrence, and in one of 
these he received a wound on his lip which left a 
deep and everlasting scar. 

It may have been luck or the interference of his 
patron saint which kept him from joining the ill- 
fated expedition which sent Alonso de Ojeda and 
Diego de Nicuesa to their ruin. A swelling on his 
knee kept him at home and reserved him for better 
things. Meanwhile, Diego Columbus, a son of the 
Admiral, became Governor of Hispaniola, and in 
151 1 he fitted out an expedition for the conquest 
of Cuba, with Velasquez in command. Cortes vol- 
unteered under him. 

It was an inglorious campaign, conducted most 
inhumanly, wiping out with ruthless sword and fire 
the vanquished savages. To slay, to burn, to sack, 
were the watchwords of the Spanish conquerors. 
Thus we can see how easy it was for any young 
soldier to fall into the cruelties of the Spanish war- 
fare, though Cortes was in many respects more 
humane and certainly more sincere and single- 
minded than any of his contemporaries. 

Then, as we have seen, Velasquez became Gov- 
ernor of Cuba, and Cortes, with his genial manners 
and lively conversation — to say nothing of his 
military prowess — secured favour with the new 
Commander. He was chosen by him, in preference 
to his own kindred and to older and more experi- 



132 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

enced navigators and soldiers, to head the expedi- 
tion to that new land called Mexico, into which he 
had not allowed his nephew, Grijalva, to penetrate. 

Velasquez had been much impressed by the pic- 
turesque accounts of this wonderful country, espe- 
cially that of Pedro Alvarado, who had accompanied 
Grijalva on his memorable expedition as far as 
Yucatan. His object was to send an invading mar- 
tial host into the heart of the unknown country, 
and there was no one more thoroughly fitted for 
the task than this young soldier, full of hope and 
ambition, of tact and resource, linked to an in- 
domitable spirit, and born to conquer. 

There was often friction between Cortes and 
Velasquez. The older man did not approve of the 
gay life the younger man led, and on more than one 
occasion Cortes had been imprisoned by his orders. 
But he made himself so popular with his jailors 
that they helped him to escape. 

One cause of all this ill-feeling was his refusing 
to marry a beautiful Spanish girl who had come 
with her parents and sisters to Hispaniola, in the 
train of Maria de Toledo, the noble wife of Diego 
Columbus. Her name was Catalina Juarez, and 
Velasquez, who was interested in one of her sisters, 
resented Cortes's behaviour. Perhaps the young 
scapegrace felt that the Governor's displeasure 
might fall too heavily upon him and spoil his career ; 
perhaps after all his heart was touched by the 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 133 

beauty of the young girl, for he married her at last 
and lived happily with her upon his estate. 

Peace was restored between him and the Gov- 
ernor, who gave him land and Indian slaves. For 
several years Cortes was content to cultivate his 
fields and dig in his mines, amassing quite a for- 
tune. So when the Governor's choice fell upon 
him as commander of the expedition into Mexico, 
Cortes felt that his long nourished hopes were about 
to be realised. Velasquez wanted men and money 
and ships, and Cortes was willing and able to fur- 
nish most of the substance. He was a young man 
still, not more than thirty-four or -five, and his 
naturally light and easy character began to change 
under the responsibility of this great and wonderful 
mission. His besetting fear was that at the very 
last moment Velasquez might change his mind and 
send some one else to snatch the command aw^ay 
from him. His fear was not without foundation. 
Velasquez was of a jealous disposition and was 
afraid that all the glory of the achievement would 
fall upon Cortes's shoulders ; so at the eleventh hour 
he was persuaded to send another in his stead. 

Cortes worked with ovefwhelming energy. His 
popularity was immense, and hundreds of men 
flocked at his call. Gold, adventure, and fame 
awaited those who enlisted under his leadership. 
Once out of the port of Santiago de Cuba he might 
snap his fingers at the Governor. The thing was 



134 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

to load his vessels as quietly and as quickly as pos- 
sible, and to get out into the open sea before Velas- 
quez could have time to appoint any one to take 
his place. 

The story goes, and a picturesque story it is too, 
that preparations were completed one midnight. 
When the dawn came the white sails of the squad- 
ron were spread out to meet the breeze, and the 
rattling of their heavy cables fell upon the ears of 
the good people of Santiago de Cuba. It roused 
Velasquez from his bed, and he galloped to the 
wharf, calling in frenzy — " Stop, stop ! " But 
Cortes only waved his hand and called back, " Fare- 
well, good Governor! Time is short and the great 
work must hasten," or words to that effect. So he 
sailed away towards the West, out of all reach, and 
left Velasquez fuming on the quay. 

In vain the Governor sent swift messengers 
ahead to all the ports with orders to arrest Cortes. 
Instead he was received with great enthusiasm and 
many well-known grandees cast their fortunes with 
him. Foremost among them was the same Pedro 
de Alvarado who had been Grijalva's envoy to 
Velasquez. At the last port he touched, Cortes de- 
cided to write a conciliatory letter to his irate chief, 
and when he finally put out into the open sea he 
found himself in command, by his own counting, of 
five hundred Spaniards, two hundred Indians, ten 
heavy guns, several falconets, ample ammunition. 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 135 

and sixteen horses, — all stowed away in eleven 
brigantines whose white sails filled proudly before 
the winds which bore them to conquest. 

Cortes well knew that his watchword must now 
be " Forward." Should disaster overtake him and 
force his return to Santiago de Cuba, imprisonment 
and probably death would be his portion. There- 
fore, devoutly commending the expedition to his 
godly patron, St. Peter, promising his eager men 
all the glories of conquest, and pointing out to them 
that their highest mission must be to set the Cross 
before the savages, he cast all regrets to the winds, 
if regrets he had, and sailed for the shores of 
Yucatan. 

A glance at a map of Mexico will show that 
Yucatan is like the great toe of its slender foot. 
Cortes's fleet did not land at the very tip of this 
great toe but a little to one side, on the island of 
Cozmuel. Pedro de Alvarado, who arrived two 
days ahead of his Commander, foolishly and cruelly 
employed his time in attacking the natives and 
arousing their hostility. Many fled before him and 
many were taken prisoners. 

Cortes, upon his arrival, once and for all laid 
down the law, severely reprimanding Alvarado. 
The savages whom they encountered must be con- 
quered, not by cruelty but by kindness and the 
power of the Cross. So he ordered the release of 
all the prisoners, loading them with gifts and assur- 



136 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

ing them through his interpreters that they should 
come to no further harm. Everything stolen from 
their town was restored, and what had been taken 
in food was paid for liberally. This generous con- 
duct emboldened the head chief of the island to 
visit Cortes, who received him most kindly and as- 
sured him of the friendly intentions of himself and 
his soldiers. The chief told him that there were 
some white prisoners in Yucatan, and a messenger 
\vas despatched in search of them, with a letter tied 
in his hair. It was from Cortes and ran as follows : 

" Noble Sirs, I left Cuba with a fleet of eleven ships 
and five hundred Spaniards, and have arrived at Cozumel, 
whence I write you this letter. The people of this island 
assure me that there are five or six bearded white men 
in this country who greatly resemble us, and I conjecture, 
though they can give me no other indications, that you 
are Spaniards. I and the gentlemen who have come with 
me to explore and take possession of these countries, 
earnestly beg you to come to us within five or six days 
after you receive this, without further delay or excuse. 

" If you will come, all of us will recognise and thank 
you for the assistance this armada will receive from you. 
I send a brigantine to bring you, with two ships as escort. 

" Hernan Cortes."" 

To be doubly sure of finding these men, Cortes 
sent Diego de Ordaz with the two smallest brigan- 
tines to Cape Catoche, where other messengers were 
landed and despatched in search of the captives. 
And while he waited Cortes, being impetuous and 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 137 

over-zealous, turned his attention to the conversion 
of the heathen. But the Indians loved their gods 
who had bestowed upon them health and harvests 
and victory over their enemies. The worship of 
these gods had been rooted in the very soil, so they 
refused to give them up for new gods. 

This of course angered the Spaniards, and Cortes 
invaded their temples and had their idols over- 
thrown and rolled down the steps, amid the sullen 
protests of the simple people. Then he placed upon 
the altar a statue of Our Lady, and above it a large 
Cross of wood. And because the Indians stood pas- 
sively by and made no outcry, Cortes really thought 
he had converted them and that there would be no 
more trouble. He did not know that this emblem 
of the Cross was very familiar to the savages, as 
it was the sign of their own rain-god and therefore 
a symbol of worship. Indeed they listened to the 
high-sounding words of the foreigners when they 
celebrated their mass, and were impressed like chil- 
dren with the sumptuousness and the pageantry 
with which these good Catholics voiced their devo- 
tion to the Church. But it went no further in their 
untutored minds. They were quite willing to let 
the Christians alone, but they, in their turn, wished 
to be let alone also. 

In many ways we cannot blame the Christians 
for the stand they took. The gods of the heathens 
were terrible gods, demanding human sacrifices, and 



138 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

the Indians themselves were cannibals, eating the 
flesh of their vanquished enemies with the ferocity 
of wolves. 

Now, although the Spaniards were cruel and fol- 
lowed their many victories with unwarrantable tor- 
ture, they had never reached the point of eating 
their victims, though perhaps the savage way was, 
after all, the kindest. 

At any rate Cortes and his soldiers began early 
to sow the seeds of suspicion among the savages, 
and by the time the Spaniards had penetrated to the 
real heart of Mexico, many of the hostile tribes were 
quite ready to offer up the white men on the altar 
of their gods. 

In the meanwhile, Cortes's note to the white cap- 
tives had received one answer in the person of 
Geronimo de Aguilar, a man of holy orders who 
had been captured some eight years before while 
crossing with about twenty others from Darien to 
Hispaniola. Their vessel, under the command of 
one Valdevia, had been wrecked, and these twenty 
men and their Captain took to the open boat in a 
treacherous sea where, after fourteen days of hard- 
ship, they were flung on the coast of Yucatan. 
Many of their comrades had died from exposure, 
and the natives sacrificed the Captain and five of his 
men at once and made a meal of them. The others 
were put in cages to fatten for another sacrifice, 
but Aguilar and a companion succeeded in escap- 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 139 

ing. They fell into the hands of another and a 
kinder chief or cacique, and their lives were 
spared. 

When Cortes's letter came, Aguilar was permit- 
ted by his captors to join the Spaniards, and he 
proved of great service to the Commander because 
of his knowledge of many Indian tongues. 

The fleet which landed at Cozumel, February 18, 
1 5 19, set sail again on March 13th following. 
After some rough weather and many hairbreadth 
adventures and escapes, the ships found their way 
to the Tabasco River, which the Spaniards had 
christened Rio de Grijalva. As the river was too 
small for the larger vessels, Cortes landed his peo- 
ple in barques at a little distance from the town of 
Tabasco. 

Although the natives received them in friendly 
fashion, they had no desire for the invaders to set- 
tle there, and the chiefs prepared to fight. This 
of course made the Spaniards more determined to 
take possession, which they accordingly did by 
reading a pompous paper to the wondering savages, 
who understood not a word of it. But they did 
understand when Cortes struck the trunk of a great 
tree, which grew in the court of the principal tem- 
ple, three times with his sword, proclaiming every- 
thing the King's property. They shouted their 
battle cry and rushed on the foe. 

But Cortes had two overpowering surprises, his 



140 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

horses and his firearms. The guns did not frighten 
them as much as the horses ; these struck terror and 
amazement among the warriors who soon fled in 
retreat. Thousands died in battle, but beyond the 
wounding of twenty men the Spaniards came out 
unscathed. Cortes received the humbler chiefs 
kindly and accepted their presents of gold, stuffs, 
provisions, and slaves. There was some curiosity 
on the part of the Spaniards as to whence came the 
gold, and when the Indians answered " from Col- 
lina " the Spaniards had no idea of what the word 
meant — that it stood for a barbaric empire. They 
merely thought it was some place farther inland. 

Twenty slaves in all did the vanquished caciques 
bring to the Spanish camp. They were Indian 
girls and were handed over to the priests to receive 
instruction and baptism. Among these slaves was 
one Marina, a beautiful and gifted maiden who 
spoke not only her own language but that of the 
Mexicans. Cortes found her services invaluable. 
She became an important figure in the history of 
the Conquest, for her devotion to her master kept 
her by his side from beginning to end. Cortes had 
need of her judgment and her intelligence, for he 
was venturing into a strange land, into the midst 
of strange people, and even among the bravest 
there is always fear of the unknown. 

In this case his fears were not without founda- 
tion, but even in his wildest flights of imagination 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 141 

he could not picture the splendour of the empire 
soon to burst upon him — a splendour which might 
well vie with Spain itself. Cortes lingered in Ta- 
basco, the conquered town, long enough to plant 
the Cross and tear down the idols of the heathen, 
and he changed the name of the little port to Santa 
Maria de la Victoria. 

On Palm Sunday, after impressive religious serv- 
ices viewed by the Indians with silent awe and 
wonder, the Spaniards embarked on their voyage to 
Mexico, taking friendly leave of the natives. Four 
days later, on Holy Thursday, April 21, 15 19, they 
reached San Juan de Ulua, and many of Cortes's 
men who had accompanied earlier expeditions under 
de Cordova or Grijalva recognised and pointed out 
familiar landmarks. 

The white-winged brigantines must have made 
an imposing picture to the simple natives who 
watched their coming, but to the inland country of 
the Aztecs the advent of the strangers was simply 
the answer to many dark, foreboding prophecies. 

The Aztec gods were terrible in their wrath, and 
one, — Quetzelcoatl, god of the air, — was driven 
out of the country by an ungrateful people, for he 
had taught them how to live. During his stay with 
them he made their valley fruitful, he changed their 
manners and customs, he taught them agriculture 
and how to reap abundant harvests. Above all, he 
taught wisdom to the rulers, establishing a new 



142 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

religion with neither idols nor human sacrifice. 
Yet for all his kindness he was banished, and so 
he passed, promising to return and wrest away the 
Empire and to restore his religion which they over- 
threw. 

He was a beautiful god, — not swarthy like the 
Aztecs, but fair of skin, with long, wavy black hair. 
He was supposed to have gone to the seacoast 
where he built himself a canoe of serpent skins in 
which he floated away to Tlapallan, a haven lying 
somewhere near the rising sun. The time of his 
return was prophesied by the foreboding priests of 
the Aztecs, and it fitted in so well with the de- 
parture of Cortes's fleet that by many of the natives 
he was supposed to be the *' Fair God " himself, 
arriving to perfect his vengeance. 

There was something very martial and dignified 
in the bearing of this handsome Spanish conqueror 
that might well make him pass for a god among 
the superstitious Aztecs. Cortes himself, through 
his interpreters, soon learned to understand and to 
play upon their secret fears. 

The Spaniards landed on Good Friday and 
formed a camp. On Easter Sunday an embassy 
from Montezuma, the Emperor of the Aztecs, — of 
all the tribes of Anahua — arrived. There were 
four thousand persons in all, including many chiefs 
of high rank bearing Montezuma's gifts to Cortes. 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 143 

They salaamed before him In true Eastern fashion 
and then threw incense upon him, an act of homage 
which they offered to their gods and to their sover- 
eign. 

Cortes received them very graciously, and with 
the assistance of Marina soon explained his com- 
ing to the natives. He pointed out to them that 
he and his soldiers were subjects of the greatest 
monarch on earth, Charles V of Spain, and kings 
and princes served as his vassals. Having heard 
of the greatness of Montezuma, he had sent his 
envoy to establish friendly relations with him and 
bestow gifts upon him. When could Montezuma 
receive him? 

This seemed to surprise the leaders of the em- 
bassy, for the Emperor's person was held so sacred 
that ordinary people dared not look at him. 
Nevertheless, the bearers brought forward the gifts, 
consisting of mantles of finest cotton, articles of 
marvellous feather work, and ornaments of wrought 
gold. Cortes gave them in exchange a carved and 
painted arm-chair, a crimson cap ornamented with 
a gold medal of St. George and the Dragon, a num- 
ber of collars, and other ornaments of glass beads. 
The Chief of the embassy, observing that the gilt 
helmet of a soldier resembled the one worn by the 
Aztec war-god, Huitzilopochtli, was anxious for 
Montezuma to see it. 



144 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

" Certainly," said Cortes, " if your Emperor will 
kindly fill it with gold dust and return it to me 
that I may send it to my sovereign." 

Curiosity is the same whether the nations be 
Aztecs or Americans. Nowadays we take a camera 
along with us when we go abroad " new countries 
for to see." The Aztecs brought their artists with 
them, who painted on cloth pictures of all they saw, 
especially Cortes, Marina, and the black slaves. 
These were to be shown to Montezuma. 

Cortes had an imposing cavalry drill for his 
guests and also a discharge of his artillery which 
impressed them greatly. They went back to 
Montezuma with the presents and tales of wonder, 
to which the monarch listened with awe and dismay, 
for every word tended to convince him that his 
doom was sealed, that the " Fair God " was de- 
scending upon his rebellious people, and that his 
prophecy would be fulfilled. 

Montezuma's Empire was founded upon a long 
line of noble chiefs, but there was no king until the 
Christian year, 1352, if we can be guided by learned 
people who have made a study of the quaint picture 
writing. The first king was Acamapatzin, and he 
was elected by the vote of the people. Thereafter, 
the kings were chosen from the most promising 
young men in the royal family, and Ad^ontezuma II 
w^as the ninth in the line of descendants. Just be- 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 145 

fore the arrival of Cortes, he was in the zenith of 
his glory and his power. 

The ancient name of Mexico was Tenochtitlan, 
meaning a cactus on a rock, and was given to the 
new city by the augers or prophets who beheld an 
eagle perched on a cactus that grew on a rock, and 
holding a serpent in its talons. This emblem be- 
came the national standard of Mexico, and is seen 
to-day in the coat-of-arms of the Republic. The 
word Mexico means habitation of the god of war, 
Mexitli, and it was a fitting residence for the war- 
like Emperors of the Aztecs. 

But too much ease and pleasure and luxury had 
made of Montezuma an idle prince, and while he 
feared the coming of the strangers, he feared more 
the loss of the splendour about him. He thought 
too much of his palace full of wives, of his aviaries, 
his jewels and his fine trappings, to wish to spoil 
them in bloody warfare. 

The Aztecs feared and obeyed their monarch, 
who could kill with a nod. But even the monarch 
himself feared their fierce gods who, through their 
priests, were constantly demanding the blood of 
human victims on their altars. And he feared 
most of all this " Fair God,'* Quelzalcoatl, who was 
coming with his ships and his vengeance to pull 
down his Empire. Therefore, when his envoy re- 
turned, bringing presents from Cortes and his 



146 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

courteous though persistent demand to visit the 
city, the monarch was more than ever convinced 
that his fate was upon him. His councillors all 
felt the same influence upon them — all save one, 
the lord of one of his most powerful provinces who 
advised resistance, saying: 

" It seems to me, my lord, that you should not 
admit to your house one who will drive you out 
of it." 

Montezuma listened to this advice and again sent 
an embassy to Cortes, laden with presents of gold 
and silver, also returning the soldier's helmet filled 
with gold-dust. In the smoothest of messages he 
refused to allow the Spaniards to enter the city. 

He was pleased, he said, to have the friendship 
of the Spanish King, but as it was impossible for 
him to journey to the coast and as there would be 
many and perilous obstacles in the way of Cortes's 
coming to the capital, it would be impossible for 
them to meet, though he and his men should enjoy 
the hospitality of the Aztecs while on their shores. 
Cortes was just as much a courtier as Montezuma 
himself. He accepted all the gifts and sent some 
trifling ones in return, still calmly insisting on an 
audience. He had a message to deliver from his 
King, he said, and he dared not return without 
having performed his duty. 

Again the envoy returned to Montezuma, and 
while he was gone Cortes turned his attention to 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 147 

the spot they had selected as a camp. It was most 
unhealthy, and as the Spring turned into Summer 
many died of malaria and other troubles of the 
swamp. Cortes at once despatched a trusty fol- 
lower with his ship and a couple of pilots in search 
of a new harbour, and while they were gone he 
heard the first signs among the natives of rebellion 
against the Aztec rule. One powerful prince, the 
pretender to the throne of Texcoco, secretly sent 
him presents and offers of friendship. Many oth- 
ers sprang up who were eager to free themselves 
from Montezuma's rule. Cortes, committing him- 
self neither one way nor the other, formed in his 
own daring mind a plan for the conquest, collecting 
and binding together the hostile tribes, while his 
followers idled away their time and wrangled over 
the division of the spoils, not noticing that their 
Indian entertainers were growing inhospitable and 
withdrawing their provisions. 

After an absence of ten days, Montezuma's en- 
voy again returned with more presents and four 
large green stones resembling emeralds and valued 
by the natives. The Emperor flatly refused to 
receive Cortes or permit him to advance, and de- 
clined to say another word on the subject. 

Still not discouraged, Cortes talked earnestly to 
the envoy and explained to him and his companions 
many of the Catholic observances. The Angelus 
was sounded and the Spaniards knelt in prayer be- 



148 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

fore the wooden Cross they had set up. Finally 
Cortes sent Montezuma a Cross, and a small image 
of the blessed Virgin and Child as a token of 
friendship. Meanwhile, day after day Monte- 
zuma's rebellious subjects were arriving secretly at 
the Spanish camp, vowing allegiance to Cortes if 
he would help them throw off the Mexican yoke. 

When Montezuma's envoy departed for the last 
time, the Spaniards awoke one morning to find 
themselves abandoned by the Indians and destitute 
of provisions. This was the first sign of warlike 
intentions, and then troubles arose among them- 
selves. Cortes's scouts had returned with the re- 
port that they had found a better harbour where 
there was a fine site for a camp and plenty of fresh 
water; it was some twelve leagues north of San 
Juan de Ulna, near a town called Quahuiztler, so 
Cortes gave orders to leave at once. 

Then quarrels arose; one side wanted to follow 
strictly the orders of Diego Velasquez and return 
to Cuba with what treasure they had ; the other side 
was ready to follow their Commander. 

Cortes had his hands full. Behind him lay Cuba 
and the deadly displeasure of the Governor; before 
him stretched Mexico with its wealth and the hope 
of conquest, a glittering prize if he had strength and 
sagacity enough to compass it. But first of all he 
must deal with his men, and this he did with a calm- 
ness and moderation unsurpassed in the annals of 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 149 

history. How he won them over to his side at 
last by artful arguments is quite a fairy tale in 
itself. Suffice it to say that he carried out his 
original plan of changing the harbour; and leaving 
behind them the dreary wastes, the pests and the 
fever, they advanced into the rich rolling country 
behind Vera Cruz, nearer and nearer to the goal 
of Mexico, while Montezuma cowered in his grand 
capital, awaiting his doom. 

Meanwhile, with each day's advance Cortes col- 
lected about him new and formidable allies, and the 
history of his adventures before reaching the city 
of his desires would occupy a space beyond the 
limits of this chapter. It is only necessary to say 
that after arduous striving and hairbreadth escapes 
from one danger or another, Cortes, on November 
first, found himself at last, with a horde of savage 
and bloodthirsty allies distributed among his own 
forces, marching out of the city of Cholula, on the 
road to the city of Mexico. With every step of the 
way, tidings of the wealth and magnificence await- 
ing them filled every Spanish heart with the lust of 
gold, while the rebellious savages thirsted only for 
the blood of their enemies to satisfy their vengeful 
gods. 

When Montezuma received the tidings that the 
white stranger was on his way to the city, he fled 
in terror to the temples and consulted the oracles. 
But the priests had only bodeful signs, and the city 



I50 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

was filled with wailing; for all thought, beyond the 
shadow of a doubt, that Cortes was the ** Fair 
God," determined to overthrow Montezuma and his 
race. The priests councilled the Emperor not to 
oppose the entrance of the Spaniards; they cun- 
ningly argued that the numbers of the white host 
were few, and once in the city the strangers could 
be mowed down to a man. They did not know 
how these numbers were augmented until those who 
were demanding entrance far exceeded those within 
the city walls. 

After many anxious sessions with his councillors, 
Montezuma decided to go forth and meet the Con- 
queror, for Cortes had paved his way with bloody 
victory from town to town. There was but one 
among his faithful subjects who councilled war and 
this was the noble Quatamotzue, nephew to the 
Emperor, and spoken of as the heir apparent to the 
throne. His attitude displeased his uncle, who ban- 
ished him while these momentous events were 
taking shape. So he was not in the gorgeous pro- 
cession that went forth to await the coming of 
Cortes at the city gates. But though the pageant 
glittered as it marched through vast throngs of peo- 
ple who parted to let it pass, it was a sullen crowd 
which bent under the despotic will of the Emperor. 

The Spanish leaders on horseback were the first 
to appear, the head of a long host of warriors and 
barbarians. Montezuma, borne in a litter, looked 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 151 

curiously at the riders whose plumes waved in the 
breeze and whose armour shone with every flash 
of sunlight. He was awed and silent as if in the 
presence of the gods. Cortes and his companions 
dismounted and came towards him, and the two 
men stood face to face — Montezuma, the almighty 
and powerful ruler; Cortes, the rugged man of war, 
the polished courtier, the wily, far-seeing statesman. 

Both men were subtle schemers, but Cortes did 
not at first recognise the secret of his own power; 
he did not know that he was regarded as a god and 
that the people gave way to him because of that. 
Montezuma lodged his visitors, as he chose to call 
them, in the palace of Axaya, where his father had 
lived and ruled — amid the profound silence of the 
sullen people. It was not long before the silence 
took to mutterings, and then to dull roars as the 
strangers made free of the town, wondering at the 
magnificence that everywhere confronted them. 
There were palaces, temples, menageries, aviaries, 
pleasure gardens, baths, market places, — all be- 
tokening fabulous wealth. The eyes of the Span- 
iards grew big with wonder, while their souls grew 
small with greed in the midst of so much gold and 
silver. 

Meanwhile, Guatamotzin went about in disguise, 
stirring up the malcontents, and Cortes, detecting 
ominous signs, feared for the safety of himself and 
his men. To fall in battle was one thing, but to 



152 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

be sacrificed to the cruel gods was quite another, 
and not a man among the host was willing to run 
that risk. The Christian soldiers in the old palace 
felt little more than prisoners, and although they 
were allowed the liberty of the town they always 
felt that they were moving through a hostile 
throng, and they were glad enough to go back to 
their stronghold. 

In the midst of this uncertainty Cortes conceived 
a bold scheme. Under the guise of inviting Monte- 
zuma to visit the palace, he escorted him thither 
with an armed force, and once within the gloomy 
old walls, the unwary monarch was held a prisoner 
by a mere handful of determined men. It was one 
of the greatest deeds in history and stands forth 
to-day as a master-stroke. 

Once in their power, Montezuma was never re- 
leased. From that moment began the true story 
of the Conquest. The people of the city were de- 
moralised ; they did not know what to make of this 
strange act of the Christian leader. Montezuma 
was outwardly the ruler of his people; he was car- 
ried abroad in his litter with all the old magnifi- 
cence ; he went to the temples to worship ; he showed 
himself in the towers of the palace, but always sur- 
rounded and hemmed in by his watchful Spanish 
guard. Meanwhile the banished nephew of Monte- 
zuma, the Tzin as he was called, was stirring the 
people to war. All night the temples were opened 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 153 

while the priests invoked their gods. In the palace 
Cortes and his soldiers planned their defence and 
showed the captive monarch the occasional claws of 
the tiger, once going so far as to put his august 
person in chains. But for the most part Cortes was 
kind and even friendly to the fallen Montezuma. 

Truly Fernando Cortes was a great man, for the 
siege of Mexico was long and the Mexican people 
outnumbered the Spaniards by thousands and thou- 
sands. He w^as further harassed by the invasion 
of a Spanish fleet, commanded by Panfilo de 
Narvaes, who had been sent from Spain at the in- 
stigation of Diego de Velasquez, his old enemy in 
Cuba, to arrest Cortes as a mutineer and a rebel, 
and to punish him accordingly. 

But Cortes bore a charmed life. Miracles were 
constantly performed to keep him unscathed and to 
help him defeat his enemies and put them to rout 
— miracles with blood upon them and hard fighting 
in their train, but the good St. Peter w^atched over 
him! 

Montezuma died in captivity. Some say Cortes 
made way with him ; other traditions relate how his 
nephew, Guatamotzin, took long range aim at him 
when he appeared in the tower of the palace, and 
pierced his heart with an arrow. Then the people 
arose in earnest, with Guatamotzin, their newly 
crowned king, at their head, and from then until 
the fall of the Aztec Empire the Conquest of Mex- 



154 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

ico was a long and bloody siege. At one time 
Cortes and his men were so hard pressed that they 
began to plan a retreat. 

On the day of Montezuma's death, June 30, 1520, 
the Spaniards decided to abandon the city they had 
supposedly conquered. They had many reasons 
for this step. The news of their Emperor's death 
would arouse frenzy in the multitude who would 
fall upon the Christians and tear them to pieces. 
They decided also on a night retreat, as the Mexi- 
cans rarely fought except in the daytime, and under 
cover of darkness the army could make considera- 
ble advance on their march. The city was sepa- 
rated from the mainland by intersecting canals for 
the crossing of which Cortes had built a portable 
bridge. 

It was a dark night, the " sorrowful night " it 
was called, and there was a drizzling rain. The 
soldiers, in spite of warnings, were heavily laden 
with golden booty which impeded their progress, in 
many instances causing their death. 

The little army consisted of three divisions, — a 
vanguard of infantry commanded by Gonzalo de 
Sandoval and two other generals ; the centre, under 
the command of Cortes, was composed of the artil- 
lery, the baggage, the treasure, the women, and the 
prisoners — a son and two daughters of Monte- 
zuma; Pedro de Alvarado and Velasquez de Leon 



THE CONQUEROR OF MEXICO 155 

commanded the rear guard; and there were about 
six thousand Indian alHes. 

For a time they marched quietly, but on their 
approaching the causeway the alarm was given, and 
the big drum which called the Mexicans to arms on 
great occasions was beaten. The soldiers were at- 
tacked on all sides. The army succeeded in cross- 
ing the first canal on the portable bridge, but the 
ground being soft and wet the weight of the passing 
troops and artillery imbedded it too firmly to be 
moved, and the situation of the army crowded in 
the narrow causeway became desperate. Cortes^ as 
always, proved a brave soldier and a zealous Cap- 
tain, Although wounded, he succeeded in crossing 
the last ford, and then turned back with some of 
his horsemen to the help of the rear guard. But 
he could do little for them; most of them were 
forced to return to the city where, after three days, 
they surrendered and were sacrificed to the gods. 

Alvarado's escape was marvellous. He stood 
unhorsed and battling with the savages all around 
him, the water between him and the opposite shore, 
a tremendous chasm! But planting his long spear 
firmly in the wreckage about him, after the manner 
of a leaping-pole, the daring Spaniard collected his 
energies and jumped the chasm at a bound. To 
this day the famous spot is pointed out in the City 
of Mexico. 



156 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Cortes was ill of his wound after the terrible 
night, but undaunted he still besieged the city from 
without, and at last, after another whole year of 
bloody warfare, the City of the Aztecs fell amid 
the groans of the dying, the wailings of the living. 
The King was captured, and all resistance was at an 
end. A merciless sponge had wiped out the Aztec 
rule, and Cortes, triumphant at the head of his 
jaded troops, took possession of the fair City of 
the Lake in the name of Carlos V, King of Spain. 

Thus ended the most wonderful siege since the 
days of the Trojans. 

For a while Cortes was lauded and feted, but 
Spain, arrogant in her new possessions, never re- 
warded his faithfulness as it deserved, and the 
highest places were not for him in New Spain. 
The King was continually afraid that Cortes wished 
to make himself an independent sovereign in the 
new country, and even his wnsdom and experience 
were set aside because of petty jealousies. 

After all, Cortes fared better than Columbus, 
Balboa, and Pizarro, who were rewarded with im- 
prisonment and death. Yet he was treated un- 
kindly, and from the fall of Mexico until his death 
his life was a series of bitter disappointments. He 
was a great man, judged not only by the standards 
of his own times but by the standards of to-day, 
and the present City of Mexico is a living monument 
to his undying fame. 



CHAPTER VII 

THE FATHER OF WATERS 

IT is a remarkable fact that to the hot-blooded 
bravado of Spain our New World owes so 
much, and in a lesser degree to the eager and per- 
sistent curiosity of France. The English and the 
Dutch were slower and more phlegmatic ; they pre- 
ferred to take time to study maps and charts in 
planning a voyage, rather than to strike out on un- 
known seas. They loved gold and gain, it is true, 
but the weight of it, and not the glitter, tempted 
them as it did the most ardent Southern natures of 
the Spanish and the French. 

It was Cortes's love of gold that led to his con- 
quest of Mexico. All the brilliant, bloody pano- 
rama of that terrible victory was but a prelude to 
the still more terrible victories of the Pizarro broth- 
ers, who conquered Peru and swept from the face 
of the earth the last of the Incas — whose splendid 
barbarity has been the theme of many a song and 
many a story. 

The tale of Peru is but the tale of Mexico, with 
this difference — Cortes was a soldier and a 

157 



158 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

courtier, while the Pizarros pursued their victories 
with all the brute joy of killing and plundering. 
Yet out of the horror of their pilfering warfare, one 
figure at least stands forth unsmirched by their 
cowardly deeds. This was Hernando de Soto, 
famed no less for his daring than for the splendour 
and luxury in which he lived. 

To say that this Spanish cavalier was above re- 
proach would be to forget the period in which he 
lived and the masters whom he served. He was a 
fair fighter as fighters counted in those days, and 
his name has come down to us through historical 
ages, not as the lieutenant of the bloody Pizarro 
but as the discoverer of our Mississippi River, — a 
greater discovery, as it has turned out, than the 
gold mines of Peru. 

There is some uncertainty concerning the date 
of de Soto's birth. One account of his life says 
1496, and another 1501. He was only thirteen 
years old when he first sought adventure by becom- 
ing a page in the train of Pedrarias, the terrible 
old governor of Darien in the West Indies, whose 
fearful deeds earned him the title of " the Scourge 
of God." De Soto's blood was very blue, but his 
family while noble was poor, and so the boy had 
no fortune but his sword when he entered the serv- 
ice of Pedrarias. It was a pity when he sailed for 
the New World that fate had not cast his lot with 
a more admirable master. The old villain was cer- 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 159 

tainly not a good example to a daring, high-spirited 
lad, and he was early taught to strike in that wild 
country at whatever barred his way; hunting and 
chasing savages was welcomed by him as the gayest 
of adventures. 

He was fortunate enough to enjoy the favours 
of Pedrarias, and over ten years in his service had 
made him a trained and trusted soldier. Later, 
when the detestable Pizarro invaded Peru, de Soto's 
help was needed even by that ruthless conqueror, 
for he discovered the passes over the mountains. 
Something about the splendour and dash of the sol- 
dier inspired confidence in those above him. 

When the Spaniards made a pretence of sending 
an embassy to the camp of the great Inca, Atahualpa, 
de Soto and Pizarro headed the brilliant body of 
men selected for the purpose of intimidating the 
Peruvian Emperor. But the calm demeanour of 
the noble savage incensed the white men. 

De Soto was considered the best horseman among 
his countrymen, and knowing the Peruvian's natural 
fear of a horse he caused his spirited steed to curvet 
and prance about the square. Then he rushed him 
at full tilt towards the throne where the Inca sat, 
surrounded by his wild warriors, checking the horse 
within a few feet of the sacred person, and giving 
him so powerful a wrench that he threw the quiv- 
ering animal on his haunches right in front of the 
monarch. But the Inca sat calmly through the per- 



i6o THE TREASURE FINDERS 

formance and, after the audience was over, caused 
one of his warriors, who had involuntarily flinched 
before the onslaught of the horse and rider, to be 
beheaded for having shown fear before strangers. 

De Soto took part in many of the battles for the 
subjugation of Peru, and also assisted in the cap- 
ture of this same indomitable Inca. But while his 
manner of warfare was by way of fire and sword, 
he was neither underhanded nor cunning. The 
Pizarros on the contrary lent themselves to any 
baseness. De Soto, understanding that Atahualpa 
was to be held for a large ransom, was sent on 
some foray by his superior officers. On his return 
he found that, after receiving the gold, they had 
basely executed their prisoner. De Soto was 
shocked at this barbarity, but nevertheless he ac- 
cepted his share of the immense ransom which had 
been gathered under such false pretences. No 
Spaniard was proof against the dazzle and the glit- 
ter of gold. Yet evil as this influence was in the 
lives and fortunes of our discoverers, without that 
glitter to lead them on there would have been little 
incentive in those dark ages for the deeds of daring 
which brought to light the hidden wonders of the 
New World. It was Hernando de Soto's love of 
gold and power that brought him at length to the 
banks of the Mississippi River. 

In 1536, de Soto sailed home to Spain laden with 
his spoils. A magnificent cavalier he was when, 



THE FATHER OF WATERS i6i 

clad in the richest of silks and velvets, he appeared 
at Valladolid where the young Emperor, Charles V, 
held his brilliant but needy Court. De Soto was 
rich, the King was poor; and the young Monarch 
graciously condescended to borrow money from one 
gracious enough to lend the large sums he required. 

In return for this kindness, de Soto only asked 
the royal sanction to an expedition to conquer 
Florida, as Cortes and Pizarro had conquered 
Mexico and Peru. This was easy to give, and in- 
volved no expense to the giver, as de Soto fitted 
out his own big enterprise. Charles V also con- 
sented to make him Governor of Cuba in order 
that the expedition in every way might be suc- 
cessful. 

Now, why this ambition should have possessed 
de Soto it is difficult to say. He had returned from 
the New World laden with spoils. He was rich 
beyond the dreams of avarice. He had lands with- 
out measure and vassals without number. He was 
married besides to the beautiful Isabella de Boba- 
dilla, a daughter of the villainous Pedrarias, but 
also a relative of that Beatrice de Bobadilla, the 
Marchioness de Moya, who was the friend of 
Columbus. 

The lovely Isabella adored her husband, and had 
it not been for the rumours which came to Court 
of the yet unexplored country of Florida, of riches 
to be found there greater than the riches of Mex- 



i62 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

ico or Peru, de Soto might have remained to the 
end of the chapter a Spanish grandee, secure in 
his Castilian stronghold, high in the King's favour, 
a petty prince in his own beautiful domain. 

But a man as a *' doer of doughty deeds," one 
Cabeza de Vaca, told strange stories of the coun- 
tries he had seen and of the fabulous wealth he had 
found there — stories which so inflamed de Soto 
that he determined to seek another fortune in this 
treasure-land of Florida. 

When it became known that he was really in 
earnest about going to sea again, flocks of the best 
blood among the Cavaliers came to his standard. 
He found it hard to choose from among so many 
who had been lured by the wonderful tales of de 
Vaca, though it is a noticeable fact that de Vaca 
himself was wise enough to stay at home. There 
is no telling what the irate Spaniards would have 
done to him when they discovered that his much 
talked-of and vaunted Florida was a land of rank 
vegetation and dense foliage, swarming with sav- 
ages, the fiercest of their kind, thick with impene- 
trable forests and tangled undergrowth. 

But it is well that the nine hundred picked men, 
selected by de Soto out of twice that number who 
applied to him, were ignorant of all this, for the 
country called Florida was a vast region in those 
days, and the little leg of land which we set down 



THE FATHER OE WATERS 163 

today in our modern maps as the State of Florida 
was but a tiny slice. 

There were many Portuguese as well as Spanish 
nobles who volunteered for service, and for once 
no expense was spared in providing suitable vessels 
for such a " goodlie companie," especially as the 
Lady Isabella was to accompany her husband, and 
doubtless there were some fair Spanish ladies in 
her train. 

The comrades who had fought beside de Soto in 
the conquest of Peru were eager once more to seek 
their fortunes with him, prominent among them 
being Luis de Moscoso and Nuno de Tobar, who 
were next to him in command. 

The stately ships, which de Soto had fitted out 
with a magnificence unknown in those times, left 
the port of San Lucar at the mouth of the Guadal- 
quivir on Sunday, April 6, 1538, and so extensive 
had been the preparations that quantities of valu- 
ables had to be left behind, unprotected on the 
wharf and the prey of unscrupulous thieves who 
usually haunted those places. 

Fond of grandeur and display as de Soto was, 
we can well imagine the sight as the noble squad- 
ron swept out of the port, their sails filled with the 
fresh breezes which wafted them to the ocean. 
The flower of chivalry stood upon the decks, 
the highest of hopes animated every heart. Her- 



i64 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

nando de Soto, his young wife by his side and 
the land of flowers beckoning him from afar, 
little dreamed that he was looking his last upon 
the shores of Spain, and in what fashion his name 
would be sung through coming ages. 

It is well that one cannot see too far ahead. 
Had any one said to de Soto, " Hold back, there 
is no gold in this land you are seeking; there are 
stern things to face where you are venturing; there 
are savages to fight inch by inch of the way. Sick- 
ness and death will stalk beside you in the swampy 
forests. There is only a river at the end of your 
journey; you will die close beside it, and it will 
be your grave!" — if de Soto had been warned 
by some such prophetic voice, it is quite likely that 
he would have turned back, for the age was a 
superstitious one. But the glitter of the promised 
gold dazzled his eyes and failure seemed very far 
away. 

The first halt was made at the Canary Islands, 
where they were received in royal state by the Gov- 
ernor. At the entreaty of de Soto's wife, the Gov- 
ernor allowed his young daughter, also a Donna Isa- 
bella de Bobadilla, to accompany them on the ex- 
pedition. There is no doubt that the beautiful lady 
was more than willing, for she loved Nuno de To- 
bar, and perhaps the good and gentle lady of de 
Soto wished to befriend a lonely young girl. x\t 
any rate the romance ended in marriage, and in 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 165 

course of time they reached Havana, where de Soto, 
having been made Governor of Cuba by his mas- 
ter, Charles V, proceeded to put the affairs of the 
•little state in order before setting out for Florida, 
— the land of their desires, the unknown Eldorado 
which had lured old Ponce de Leon twenty-five 
years before with promise of the fountain of eter- 
nal youth. 

De Soto, having implicit trust in his young wife, 
left her to rule Cuba in his absence, and surely no 
explorer ever set forth with higher hopes. He was 
rich and powerful, able to choose the best instead 
of the worst of men to aid him in his enterprise, 
and he had withal a certain masterful and asser- 
tive manner which those under him admired and 
feared. To the sword-hilt, he was every inch a 
soldier, and his little army of six hundred men, two 
hundred of whom were horsemen, was perfectly 
disciplined. 

But the great mistake which de Soto and many of 
his predecessors made in exploring these unknown 
regions was in their dealings with the savage tribes 
which barred their way. Ponce de Leon in 15 13, 
Vasquez de Ayllon in 1520, and Pamphilio de Nar- 
vaez in 1528, had all come to grief through the same 
ignorance. For the object of the Catholic Span- 
iard was not alone the acquiring of new territory 
and much gold, but at the same time a crusade 
against idolatry. There were with them there- 



i66 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

fore " twelve priests, eight inferior clergy, and four 
monks " who could not only aid the soldiers but 
could convert such natives as the sword had spared. 
But the conquerors were always strangely for- 
getful of the fact that it was impossible to force 
a new religion upon a race embittered by defeat. 

On the 1 8th of May, 1539, de Soto's proud little 
fleet of two great ships, two caravels, and two brig- 
antines, set sail from the harbour of Havana, and 
on the 20th it was riding in the Bay of Tampa. 
Here they were joined by a man named Juan Ortiz, 
who had been captured by the Indians ten years be- 
fore in the unfortunate Narvaez expedition, and 
he had lived so long among them that he was com- 
plete master of their language. Consequently he 
was welcomed as a valuable aid to de Soto and his 
men. 

When the ships were unloaded, they were all sent 
back to Havana, leaving behind only the two car- 
avels in case of need. 

Having at least the experience of those who had 
suffered before him, de Soto had provided himself 
with everything for which emergency would call. 
He had shackles for possible slaves, and fierce blood- 
hounds, armour tools, forges, and a small cannon, 
to say nothing of provisions; and he kept his little 
army well drilled and up to the mark. 

On July 15th, they plunged into the depths of 
the forest, and, in spite of constant attacks from the 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 167 

savages, succeeded each day in penetrating a little 
farther into the continent. Whenever they were 
hindered or harassed by the unfriendly tribes, de 
Soto captured the chief and forced him to furnish 
men to carry their baggage as far as the lines of 
the next ruler, where he would pursue just the 
same course as he had done before. He did not 
always hold these captives, but sent most of them 
back to their country whenever he secured a fresh 
supply. It was a simple plan but it inflamed the 
already bitter feeling of the Indians, to whom cap- 
tivity meant a degradation scarcely to be borne. 
The Spaniards had little foresight in thus making 
such bitter enemies of the Indians. Herein they 
differed from the French who, while intent upon 
conversion, depended in a great degree upon the 
childlike faith of the savage, and did much to fos- 
ter it. 

In the territory which we now know as Florida, 
de Soto had one of his most serious encounters. 
An Indian chief, named Vitachuco, ruled here, — a 
man as keen and cruel and cunning as any Spaniard. 
And when de Soto and his soldiers emerged from 
the forest, worn out with struggles in the vast 
swamps, they were received with politeness by this 
wily chief, who in reality was planning their de- 
struction. Even while he offered hospitality to de 
Soto there was black treachery in his heart, and 
he planned a meeting for the Spanish leader to in- 



i68 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

spect his army. De Soto, with equal courtesy, ac- 
cepted the kind invitation, but his suspicions were 
aroused, and it soon came to his knowledge that 
Vitachuco had ordered a general massacre of the 
Spaniards. The signal was to be given, and a 
dozen of his best warriors were to fall upon the un- 
suspecting de Soto. 

At the meeting, therefore, every Spaniard was 
fully armed, and when the chief gave the signal, he 
found himself a close prisoner instead, and his war- 
riors drove their weapons against the mail-clad sol- 
diers. Their arrows were blunted by the heavy 
armour, and the spears and clubs were no match 
for the thin, narrow, murderous blades of the Span- 
iards. The poor naked savages fled for their lives 
to two lakes near the scene of the battle, pursued 
by the terrifying Spanish cavalry which headed them 
off and forced them to go to the smaller lake for 
refuge. 

These Indians were great swimmers, and as the 
night fell the Spaniards encircled the lake and the 
poor captives were held in their watery prison for 
thirty-six hours. Sometimes half a dozen of them 
would swim close together, forming a sort of a 
platform on which another would kneel to dis- 
charge his arrows, and the Spaniards shot back 
with their arquebuses until the fear of wasting their 
ammunition checked their firing. The savages re- 
mained in the water until their strength was spent; 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 169 

they had either to crawl out or to die of exhaus- 
tion or exposure. But there were a dozen indomi- 
tables ones who refused to surrender, and de Soto 
sent some of his men, who were good swimmers, 
to bring them out. Something in the stubborn he- 
roism of the savages must have appealed to de Soto, 
for their lives were spared. 

The proud Vitachuco was made to feel how the 
mighty had fallen. De Soto, content with his vic- 
tory, should have gone his way, but this was not 
the Spanish idea. The warriors were enslaved, 
and, though the Chief was kindly treated by de Soto, 
fierce resentment burned in his heart — a hero's 
heart for all its savage instincts! He resolved to 
make one more trial for freedom; so one night, 
while supping with de Soto, he suddenly raised a 
mighty war-whoop,— a signal to all his warriors, — 
and he himself sprang like a tiger at his host's 
throat, dealing him a terrible blow on the face. De 
Soto, completely off his guard, fell to the ground 
unconscious, his face smashed in, his nose broken, 
and several teeth gone. The savage sprang upon 
the prostrate body to complete his work, but he 
was run through by the sword of a trusty attend- 
ant just in time to save his leader. The other sav- 
ages, answering the signal of their chief, tried to 
do as he did, but most of them were shackled, and 
their foes were too many for them. So once more 
to the Spaniards fell the victory, and they had more 



170 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

slaves to carry their burdens as the conquering 
train moved on. 

Their next halt was in the fertile country of 
Appalache, and in this land of peace and plenty 
they spent the winter. Thirty horsemen were 
sent back to Tampa Bay to bring up the rest of the 
army which had been left behind. The cavaliers 
had to fight their way back, for the Spaniards had 
left their mark upon every village in their march 
towards the south, and when the rear-guard has- 
tened to join their commander, there was fighting 
all the way forward. So that de Soto's path from 
the Bay of Tampa to the " Father of Waters " was 
strewn with the ashes of burned homes and soaked 
with the blood of the victims. 

When the recruited army took up its march, it 
went as far as the Savannah River, and came to a 
land ruled by a woman, a slim Indian princess who 
floated down the river in her canoe to meet de Soto, 
clad, so the chronicles tell us, in grass cloth and cot- 
ton, with a brilliant crest of feathers and strings of 
pearls of immense size around her neck, girdling 
her waist, and on her copper coloured arms. There 
is a tradition that she took off one of these strings of 
pearls and flung it over the shoulders of de* Soto, 
and that he took a ring from his own finger and 
put it on hers. At any rate the little Princess, 
though courteously treated, was kept a close pris- 
oner; but she, with her woman's wit, detecting the 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 171 

real avarice of the Spaniards, bought her way with 
pearls, and when she had given her wealth in gen- 
erous quantities she managed to escape with a box 
of choice pearls which de Soto had reserved for 
himself. And it is at least pleasant to remember 
that she was never recaptured. 

The legends and the old chroniclers have made 
much of this beautiful Princess, and the fabulous 
wealth of her country has grown in the telling. It 
was a beautiful, smiling country they were passing 
through, with luxuriant vegetation and the noble 
Appalachian Mountains rising in the distance. The 
hearts of the Spaniards, warming in the genial, 
sunny climate, beat once more high with hope. 

The mountains, barring their path, they turned 
towards the south and moved through Alabama, 
entering the domain of the famous Tuscaloosa, the 
giant chief who was renowned in that part of the 
country. The present town of Tuscaloosa with its 
imposing University is all we have left to recall 
the barbaric splendour of this chief who proved 
himself even more wily than Vitachuco. For he 
made promises of royal entertainment and led the 
army towards his own town of Manvila, a place of 
palisades and thatch. The present city of Mobile, 
just a little way down the Alabama River, perpet- 
uates the name of Tuscaloosa's town, Manvila, 
which was built upon a great meadow. The In- 
dians in planning and fortifying the place had for 



172 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

once given an eye to the beauty of the surround- 
ings, for the palisade, built of heavy logs, was fas- 
tened together by vines; the spaces between the 
logs were filled in with thick masses of mud and 
straw, and many of these logs had taken root. So 
the whole place was surrounded by a solid green 
wall which overlooked the Alabama River on three 
sides. 

De Soto and his men halted at night about five 
miles away from the village, and early in the morn- 
ing the leader, with about one hundred men on 
horses and afoot, set forth for the town of Tus- 
caloosa. De Soto, not being so sure of his wel- 
come, ordered Moscoso to break camp at once and 
follow with the main army. 

But instead of waiting until they came up, de 
Soto and his cavaliers followed Tuscaloosa within 
the walls, leaving the slaves and the baggage out- 
side the gates. These fearless soldiers found them- 
selves in the midst of fierce looking warriors. The 
women, large and of massive build, were scarcely 
less fierce looking. There were no children among 
the menacing horde. 

Now, why the Spaniards should be so trusting 
it is hard to tell. They certainly had cause, through 
dire experience, to be thoroughly suspicious. They 
were lodged with every show of respect in some of 
the thatched houses, and de Soto ordered break- 
fast to be prepared. When it was ready he sent 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 173 

his interpreter, Juan Ortiz, to summon Tuscaloosa 
who, for some reason or other, had disappeared. 
The messenger was treated with insult, and as he 
turned away from the house one of the young men 
lifted his bow and prepared to shoot. One of the 
Spaniards saw the movement, whipped out his 
sword, and ripped up the offender. 

There was no such thing as taking time to con- 
sider; one bloody deed in those days demanded im- 
mediate payment in blood, and so the fight began. 
The Spaniards, seeing what a handful they were 
against the swarms of Indian men and women who 
fell upon them tooth and nail, decided that discre- 
tion was the better part of valor. Turning, they fled 
for the gates which fortunately had been left open. 
The horses were fastened just outside under the 
trees. Many were struck down on the way, but 
some managed to mount their steeds while others 
cut the bridles, letting their priceless animals escape. 
The mounted soldiers charged upon the savages, 
driving them back to the walls, and the fighting kept 
up in this way for hours. The slaves who had been 
left outside were brought in by the Indians, freed 
from their shackles, and weapons put into their 
hands. Their captivity had made them desperate 
foes, and the Spaniards were sorely pressed. De 
Soto finally decided to force his way into the town; 
his men broke down the gate in spite of all resist- 
ance, and, though cut down at every step, little by 



174 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

little they edged their way in. Bidding his men 
fight on, de Soto and de Tobar ran for their horses 
which they mounted and charged up the narrow 
street through the ranks of the Indians. Up and 
down they rode, trampling over prostrate bodies 
and carrying consternation with the thud of the 
falling hoofs. Nothing seemed to hurt the daunt- 
less riders until a chance arrow struck de Soto in 
the thigh. There was no time to draw it out, so 
the brave leader rode, standing in his stirrups, to 
the wonder and admiration of his followers. 

Then the Spaniards set fire to the houses, and by 
the time the main army reached the town, the scene 
was one of wild confusion. The yelling Indians, 
the shouting Spaniards, the burning houses showed 
the horror of it all. Ah, those were blood-curd- 
ling times, those days of the Spanish cavaliers! 
Tuscaloosa's band was swept off the face of the 
earth, and Tuscaloosa himself disappeared with all 
the rest. It is told that the last Indian left sprang 
upon the palisade and hung himself with the cord 
of his own bow. 

These were but a few of the adventures of de 
Soto as he and his soldiers pursued their relent- 
less way through the "land of flowers," and all 
this time no sign of the coveted gold ! Juan Ortiz, 
their guide and interpreter, had told them that the 
wild country over which they were marching w^ould 
yield them neither gold nor silver, and the civilised 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 175 

empire, which Cabeza de Vaca described, existed 
only in the imagination of that very clever story- 
teller. The soldiers were anxious to go back to 
Havana; they were tired of fighting; they had iost 
men and horses and much baggage. At last there 
were ominous murmurs among them when the 
dauntless de Soto determined to press on. 

Knowing his fickle King, he felt that his failure 
to find the land of his desires would result, if not 
in his disgrace, without a doubt in utter oblivion. 
Only success pleased this monarch who shone in 
the borrowed glory of his subjects. So, after his 
terrible struggle at Manvila, instead of taking to 
the ships which were but a few days' march away, 
de Soto concealed this fact and pressed on toward 
the north, carrying his men with him by sheer force 
of his will and his power to command. 

And so from May 18, 1539, until the same month 
in 1 541, they wandered from one Indian town to 
another, through one dense forest after the other, 
fighting the savages at every turn. One of the 
last outrages was practised by the Chickasaw In- 
dians in whose town in upper Mississippi the Span- 
iards passed the winter of I5'4i. When the spring 
came, de Soto ordered the chiefs to supply him 
with two hundred men to carry his baggage. But 
the Indians, exasperated at the way they had been 
treated, set fire to the town and attacked the Span- 
iards in the midst of the flames. In some mirac- 



176 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

ulous way the whites escaped, though with heavy 
loss. Their clothes had been burned and they were 
forced to dress themselves in skins and mats of 
ivy leaves. They lost no time in putting things to 
rights again and preparing to march on with their 
indomitable commander. 

In the month of May, 1541, they came in sight 
of a great river which stretched out to bar their 
progress. It was a wonderfully broad stream, and 
this was the first time the eyes of white men had 
ever rested upon it in all its majestic beauty. They 
gazed at first in awe and admiration; this vast 
stream was an impassable barrier to their further 
progress. 

De Soto and his men looked into the clear depths 
of this wonderful river but they found no gold! 
Their little grasping minds could not forge 
ahead to foresee the coming empires which would 
rise in future centuries along its banks. Beyond 
this river must lie the much coveted and long sought 
gold, and so they set to work and built barges strong 
enough to bear their horses. In a month's time 
they were able to cross to the western bank of the 
river, and the men were able to press on into the 
vast unknown country stretching before them, fol- 
lowing the windings of the river. They found the 
Indians more friendly but the country was more 
difBcult to traverse. Finally they reached the higher 
lands of Missouri, and in this region of plenty the 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 177 

simple natives hailed de Soto and his men as " chil- 
dren of the sun." By this time even de Soto grew 
v^eary ; he was heart-sick over his failure and worn 
out by heavy marching. 

The battered remnant of that brilliant little army 
spent the next winter somewhere near the pres- 
ent city of Little Rock, Arkansas. When the spring 
came once more, de Soto wearily began his march 
southward towards the river. He was absolutely 
disheartened, for he had lost his faithful guide and 
interpreter, Juan Ortiz, and the men plunged blindly 
through dense woods and impassable canebrakes, 
and, emerging into a low, moist country, disease 
spread among the soldiers while the Indians once 
more grew hostile. 

De Soto tried to convince the great Chief of the 
Natchez tribe that he was immortal, but the Chief 
only answered: 

" They call you the child of the sun. Dry up the 
river and I will believe you. If you wish to see me, 
visit the town where I dwell. If you come in peace, 
I will greet you as a friend; if in war, I will not go 
back a foot." 

But de Soto was past caring for these things. 
Attacked by a terrible fever, he felt that his end 
was near, and appointed Moscoso his successor. De 
Tobar was already dead, and on May 21, 1542, just 
three years since the joyous setting forth, Hernando 
de Soto breathed his last on the wretched bed be- 



178 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

side the Mississippi, — died thinking the expedition 
a failure, while the mighty river murmured a re- 
quiem in his ears. 

They buried him deep in the forest, but thought 
it wisest to say nothing to the Indians of their loss, 
for then they might grasp the fact that the " chil- 
dren of the sun " were not immortal, and it might 
go hard with the faithful followers. A second 
thought made them fear, too, that the Indians' keen 
scent might track the body to its hiding place; so 
they decided to go in the dead of night, disinter it 
and sink it in the deepest part of the river. They 
found a spot about a hundred feet in depth, and at 
midnight the little party rowed out into midstream, 
bearing the body, which was heavily weighted with 
sand. The priests muttered a prayer and the sol- 
diers, with much reverence, lowered all that was 
left of their leader gently over the boat's side into 
the river. The water surged over the proud, still 
heart, and he was carried down, down, fathoms deep, 
by the strength of the current and the weight of the 
sand. 

After many weary months, three hundred gaunt 
and haggard men found their way back to Ha- 
vana to tell the sad story. The Donna Isabella al- 
ready knew her lord was dead; she pined for him 
day after day until at length she folded her patient 
hands and went to join him. 

And the river, the " Father of Waters " men call 



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ATTACK ON NATIVES IN TREES 



THE FATHER OF WATERS 179 

it, flows proudly on. Great cities rear their crests 
upon its banks; great ships ply to and fro; while 
in his quiet bed, far away from turmoil and traffic, 
sleeps the hero who discovered it. Not for all his 
valiant deeds will he be remembered, not for all his 
w^ealth nor his splendour, but because his tired eyes 
looked on this river and his eager hands planted 
upon its shores the standard of Spain! 



CHAPTER VIII 

THE OPENING OF THE GATEWAY OF CANADA 

IT is pleasant to turn from the ferocity of the 
Spanish grandees who ploughed their path 
through the unknown wastes of the New World 
over the prostrate bodies of writhing victims, to the 
simple, hardy Breton sailor who pointed the way to 
Canada. He followed close upon the heels of John 
Verrazani, the Florentine navigator, employed by 
Francis I, of France, to seek a passage to Cathay 
which might turn some of the untold wealth of the 
Indies away from the coffers of Charles V, of 
Spain. 

Verrazani came of ancient family, and while an 
experienced sailor, he was unscrupulous enough in 
his dealings on the high seas to be called a pirate. 
Francis provided his man with four ships, and he 
sailed from Dieppe toward the end of the year 1523. 
A terrible storm drove him back to Brittany with 
two of his vessels. What became of the other two 
was never explained, nor why, when he sailed again, 
he had only one caravel called the Daiiphine. With 
this ship he made straight for Madeira, which he 

180 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA i8i 

reached in January 1524. From there he sailed for 
the coast of the unknown world, and the low shore 
they first sighted was somewhere near Wilming- 
ton, North Carolina. He also touched the coasts 
of Virginia and Maryland, everywhere marvelling 
at the savages who always came in festive array to 
meet them. 

Verrazani was the first to see the Bay of New 
York, but unlike Henry Hudson, who followed him 
nearly a century later, he thought nothing of the 
vast sheets of water within easy reach. His eyes 
were opened only for gold, and he thought he saw 
signs of mineral wealth in the neighbouring hills. 

If we can believe the old records, Verrazani fol- 
lowed the shores of Long Island till he reached an 
island which may have been Block Island, and 
thence to a harbour which most likely was New- 
port. The little Dauphine made for the rugged 
coast of New England, going northward as far as 
Newfoundland. Then, being out of provisions, 
Verrazani sailed back to France, with still no clue 
to the passage leading to Cathay and no gold to sat- 
isfy the eagerness of those who watched and waited 
and hoped for great things on his return. 

After this, France was in a state of upheaval. No 
more voyages were spoken of, and there remains 
little to tell of Verrazani and his deeds. There are 
three surmises as to what finally became of him. 
One historian tells us that he went upon another 



i82 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

voyage, and in sight of his followers was killed and 
eaten by savages. Another says that if this voy- 
age was made at all it was in the service of Henry 
Vni, of England. Our best authority is the word 
of a Spanish writer who declares that, in 1527, he 
was hanged as a pirate at Puerto del Pico, and there 
seem to be documents to prove this statement. So 
poor Verrazani does not make a noble exit. He 
had accomplished little beyond exploring the New 
World coastline from thirty-four to fifty degrees. 

The King for a long time gave no further en- 
couragement to the adventurous spirits about him; 
he was too busy with his own affairs to spare 
thought for anything else. But there was among 
his courtiers and favourites a young nobleman 
named Philippe de Brion-Chabot, who at one time, 
being high in his master's favour, held the office of 
Admiral of France. This gallant had a yearning 
for discovery; he was anxious to follow up Ver- 
razani's work, and in looking about him for a 
strong, capable, reliable man, Chabot found just 
what he wanted in the man from Brittany, Jacques 
Cartier, — a native of the ancient town of St. Malo, 
with the rugged nature and the physical endurance 
bred in that grim buttress. 

St. Malo was in truth the nursery of hardy mar- 
iners, and Chabot could not have found a better 
man than this sturdy sailor. He was full forty 
years of age when he set out from St. Mario in 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 183 

April 1534, in search of the ekisive Cathay. Car- 
tier steered for Newfoundland, " passed through the 
Straits of Belle Isle, entered the Gulf of Chaleurs, 
planted a cross at Gaspe " and pushed on up the St. 
Lawrence. That was his course, but it took many 
months and much labour to get there. 

The Breton sailors, always noted in the maritime 
history of the world, did much to strengthen the 
coming naval power of France. It must be remem- 
bered that the great nations in those days had no 
navies, that in w^ar their bloody victories were 
gained by hand to hand fighting, and that the ships 
wxre but ill-equipped for attack or defence. The 
trained sailors acquired their skill simply through 
their natural ability. Jacques Cartier, it seems, 
stood out from his fellows because of his expe- 
rience in seafaring. He it was who opened for us 
the highway into Canada, a mere accident, as us- 
ual, in the case of the great discoveries. Cartier all 
along his route was joyously certain that he was 
approaching Cathay with the blowing of every fa- 
vourable wind, and visions of gold and precious 
stones coloured even his sturdy Breton brain. 

He had set sail from St. Malo on April 20th ; in 
twenty days the ships touched Newfoundland • — a 
wonderful voyage with wonderful weather. After 
that, it turned cold and ice encompassed them on 
every hand. They were forced to go into a har- 
bour which Cartier called " Saint Catharine " in 



i84 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

honour of his wife, it being the first land he named 
in the New World. Here the little fleet stayed ten 
days waiting for the ice to clear away, and Cartier 
busied himself in fitting up his boats for service. 
On May 21st, the wind changing, they sailed to 
what was then known as the Isle aux Oiseaux (the 
Isle of Birds), now called Funk Island. It was 
packed around with ice, but Cartier managed to 
reach the island in his small boats. It was the 
shelter of myriads of sea-fowl, and the crew se- 
cured all they wanted for their use. Men were not 
the only devourers of these birds; there were bears 
on the island which swam out to catch the fowls 
and to eat them upon the sea. The sailors gave 
chase to a great white fellow and succeeded in kill- 
ing him, and they found his flesh as good " as that 
of a two-year-old heifer." 

Passing next through the strait of Belle Isle on 
May 27th, they encountered so much ice that they 
decided to go into a harbour until the warm weather. 
It was while waiting, as Cartier himself declares, 
" to pass on further with God's help," that he made 
a careful examination of the coast, and his rather 
queer idea of Newfoundland found its way into 
the maps of that day. He seemed to think that the 
whole region consisted of islands which were sep- 
arated from one another by small channels through 
which boats could pass. For a hundred years at 
least these erroneous maps misguided people. 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 185 

There is a small island at the extreme northern 
point, called Kirpon Island, and it was in the chan- 
nel between it and the main island that Cartier had 
taken refuge. 

Newfoundland was deeply indented, and there 
were fine harbours along the rocky shores, though 
as Cartier himself says: "there was not one cart- 
load of earth on the whole stretch of coast," — all 
rocks on one side, while on the other loomed a 
mountain range from nineteen hundred to two 
thousand feet in height. Dark, forbidding moun- 
tains they were, — indeed the whole of that west- 
ern coastline was most gloomy and forbidding. 

Cartier has kept a very clear and well-written 
record of this voyage, and until in their explora- 
tions they came in contact with the natives, all went 
well. It was when they had reached Chaleur Bay, 
the region which separated the Indians of Canada 
from the Micmac tribes of Acadia, that they were 
seen first. Here Cartier found himself in a region 
of islands, and canoes full of the savages shot into 
the narrow channels where Cartier's boats had ven- 
tured. 

The Frenchmen, unlike the Spaniards, were al- 
ways cautious in their treatment of these wild chil- 
dren of the woods. Their first object was to make 
friends of them, and the result was that in the dark 
days of the Canadian settlements there was an un- 
usual understanding between the white and the red 



i86 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

men. In spite of the direful records of wars among 
the tribes, those whose cause the whites championed 
were ever faithful allies. Even the Iroquois In- 
dians, ferocious and unmerciful as they were in 
their warfare, — a menace to all other tribes, — 
stand forth from the past with a savage grandeur 
not to be found among the Indians of more tropi- 
cal countries. The months of cold and exposure, 
besides, made of the Canadian Indian a lithe, ac- 
tive, stalwart figure, skilled in woodcraft, keen of 
scent, swift as an eagle. 

So, when these first inquisitive Indians tried to 
surround the little exploring boat, the French be- 
ing far outnumbered, fired two or three harmless 
shots which scattered the canoes. The next morn- 
ing, however, the savages ventured among the ships 
in their canoes, and convinced the new-comers that 
they meant no harm. Instead, they welcomed them 
with dancing and singing and every sign of joy- 
ousness. Cartier thought that these childlike peo- 
ple would be easy to convert, though he does not 
give his reasons why. Indeed, if the discoverers 
had wasted less time upon this hopeless task and be- 
stowed more time upon hewing down forests and 
making staunch friends of the dusky tribes, the New 
World would not have been built upon such grue- 
some foundations. 

At Gaspe Basin, Cartier erected a cross with an 
escutcheon on which there were three fleur-de-lis. 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 187 

and in large letters, this inscription : " Vive le Roy 
de France." Here he met the very first Indians of 
the Huron-Iroquois stock. They came in the 
friendliest v^ay to visit the ships — men, women, and 
children, — and sang and danced in joyous wel- 
come. But they objected to the cross, which seemed 
to take possession of some of their land. They 
were fine-looking people, and Cartier got hold of the 
two sons of one of the chiefs, explaining that he 
wished to carry them away for a while, but that 
they would be brought back to their people safe and 
sound with many gifts for the whole tribe. The 
two boys, named Taignoaguy and Domagaya, were 
eager enough to go with the Frenchmen and gladly 
exchanged their rags for the French dress. Cartier 
carried them to France and they were useful as in- 
terpreters during the next voyage. 

Cartier brought his first voyage to an early close, 
for, though every league he sailed brought some new 
discovery, the little fleet had not set out prepared 
to stay the Winter. Though his skilful navigation 
had carried him by these rocky coasts with but the 
loss of an anchor, he did not feel like risking the 
lives of his men in further venture. So after con- 
sultation with his captains, pilots, masters, and com- 
panions, it was decided that August was the time 
to turn homeward, before the storms and strong 
tides set in. On August 15th, they started home 
through the strait of Belle Isle, and after some 



i88 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

rough weather reached St. Malo on September 5th. 
The route to Cathay was still a mystery, but the 
Gulf of the Dominion of Canada had been explored. 

To Cartier, standing on the north point of Anti- 
costi on his home voyage, the basin of this Gulf 
had spread out as far as his eye could reach. Be- 
yond, doubtless, lay the passage to the South Sea, 
and beyond that even lay Cathay. This voyage 
could only be the forerunner of another. Now 
that the right way was found, it only remained for 
him to sail back to St. Malo and set on foot an ex- 
pedition for a greater enterprise. 

Accordingly, on October 30th, he obtained a com- 
mission from his good friend, the Admiral of 
France, for a second voyage " to complete the navi- 
gation in the lands which he had commenced to dis>- 
cover." To do this, Cartier was authorized to en- 
gage three ships and provision them for fifteen 
months. It was only through Admiral de Chabot's 
great influence that Cartier could obtain what he 
wanted, for the people of grim St. Malo frowned 
upon the second expedition as they had upon the 
first. But Cartier, while genial and social with them 
all, was not a man to be moved from his purpose 
because a few petty traders opposed him. He had 
the greatest faith in his future discoveries, and in- 
deed, as we know, what he did discover had a wide 
influence on the subsequent history of France, — 
far wider than even the best authorities recognize. 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 189 

Cartier's three ships were the Grande Hermine, of 
one hundred twenty tons, on which he himself 
sailed with Thomas Frosmond as master; the 
Petite Hermine, of sixty tons, with Mace Jalobert 
as captain; and rEmerillon, of forty tons, under 
Captain Guillaume le Breton. There were a few 
private gentlemen and companions on the Grande 
Hermine. There are only seventy- four recorded 
names of those who shipped for this second voy- 
age, but there were many not on the list, including 
the two Indians whom Cartier was taking home, — 
making in all one hundred and twelve persons. 

When they were ready to sail, Cartier and his 
whole command received the sacrament at the Ca- 
thedral of St. Malo, and the Bishop himself blessed 
the undertaking. This was on Whitsunday, May 
16, 1535, and by May 19th, the expedition set forth. 
But unfortunately it encountered the very worst 
w^eather, — terrible winds, thick fogs and heavy 
storms. So the ships were swept far apart and did 
not meet again until July 26th at Blanc Sablon, 
which he had touched on his first voyage. Here 
Cartier repaired damages, and then followed the 
Labrador coast which he found so dangerous that he 
struck sail every night and waited till morning to 
go on. 

On July 31st, the coast changed in aspect; in- 
stead of cruel rocks, they saw a flat and sandy shore. 
This brought the fleet into more familiar waters 



190 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and they were able to pursue their way at night. 

Contrary winds drove the ships into a harbour 
called by Cartier, Havre St. Nicholas, and after 
staying there for nearly a week he sailed across to 
Anticosti, where the land began to fall away and 
widen out. But there were no safe harbours, so he 
turned back again to the Labrador coast. Here he 
entered a large bay which he called Baye Sainct 
Laurens, because he entered it on August loth, the 
feast of St. Lawrence. In fact, throughout the 
New World one sees many capes and bays and head- 
lands and islands named in the same fashion because 
there is scarcely a day on the calendar which does 
not mark the birthday or the martyrdom of some 
saint. Both French and Spanish Catholics de- 
lighted to honour them. Gradually the name, St. 
Lawrence, spread until finally it extended over the 
whole gulf and river. 

On August 1 2th, the two Indians with Cartier be- 
gan to recognise their native shores. They told 
Cartier that a few days' sailing would bring them 
to the kingdom of Saguenay, and beyond that lay 
Canada. It is evident these names were well known 
to Cartier; doubtless the Indians had spoken of them 
before, for our Breton sailor mentions them in his 
account quite naturally, as if familiar with them. 
The two words are Huron-Iroquois, and it is evi- 
dent that Canada was the native land of these tribes. 

The Indians told Cartier he was about to enter 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 191 

the great river of Hochelaga; that it was the high- 
way to Canada; and that it would grow narrower 
as they approached that country. This was not 
what Cartier wanted, — to have his way barred when 
his main object was to find a passage to the great 
South Sea, which would lead to Cathay. So he 
turned the ships around and surveyed the coast on 
the east side, fearful lest by any faint chance he 
might have missed the passage. Always Cathay, no 
matter what beauty of scenery or wonders of dis- 
covery, and Cartier, though approaching the great 
watercourse, thought mostly of that still hidden pas- 
sage which led to the wealth of the Indies. " On 
the first day of September," he writes in his ac- 
count, " we set sail from the said harbour for Can- 
ada." 

The word Canada means a town, and in the 
Huron-Iroquois language it means any town or vil- 
lage. As Cartier reckoned, the whole region was 
divided into three kingdoms: Saguenay, Canada, 
and Hochelaga. Their chiefs were called kings, 
but they were in truth only what was known as 
sachems, and their kingdoms were merely vast 
stretches of hunting ground. Alas for the splen- 
did palaces and the glittering streets of the fabled 
Cathay! This was all that Cartier was destined to 
find as he sailed up the St. Lawrence, marvelling at 
the wonders that were neither gold nor silver nor 
precious stones. 



192 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

He touched upon island after island in that won- 
derful river, and finally came to a group of islands, 
fourteen in number, which his Indians told him was 
the division between the lands of Saguenay and 
Canada. The ships were anchored in the channel 
between the Island of Orleans and the north shore 
where Cartier landed, taking his two Indian boys 
as interpreters. 

For the first time Cartier understood the power 
and the strength of the nation to which these boys 
belonged. Though he had taken them from the 
Gaspe coast when he knew nothing of Canada or 
the great river, yet when he landed on this new and 
seemingly unknown shore (the present Quebec) and 
the frightened savages began to flee before him, 
Taignoaguy and Domagaya told him that these peo- 
ple were all their friends and relatives. Calling 
them back, they told them their names, whereat 
there was much rejoicing, many gifts, and a great 
feasting. 

Cartier was visited in state the next day by the 
" Lord of Canada " who came down the river with 
twelve canoes and many people. His name was 
Donnacona and he was a great chief. He came 
on board the Captain's ship, and heard from the In- 
dian boys the wonders they had seen in France and 
the kind treatment they had received. These In- 
dians were great talkers, and the Frenchmen were 
forced to listen to long harangues accompanied by 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 193 

weird gestures and contortions^ and woe to any one 
who interrupted them. Those who came in con- 
tact with these tribes in later days had to learn to 
endure this talking without showing displeasure, but 
Donnacona was very friendly because he found Car- 
tier a patient listener. 

As soon as all the strange ceremonies of greet- 
ing were over and the Indians had left, Cartier 
manned his boats and started up the river to find a 
safe harbour. He came upon a very " beautiful and 
pleasant bay" (the basin of Quebec harbour), with 
a small river running into it, and here he moved his 
ships on September 14th, choosing Holy Cross day 
for the purpose. The little river, therefore, he 
called the Sainte Croix ; to-day it is called the Saint 
Charles. 

Every one knows how beautiful it is around Que- 
bec in September. The great St. Lawrence has here 
narrowed down until it looks like a shimmering 
stream. In front of the city is the harbour where 
the largest ships may ride at anchor ; in the distance 
the blue hills curve around enclosing the city like a 
vast amphitheatre. All this Cartier saw in its 
primeval beauty, and in his log-book he speaks with 
enthusiasm of the rich and fruitful land, of the 
oaks, the elms, the ash trees, the chestnuts, the ce- 
dars, and the hawthorns. 

About two miles up the St. Croix river Cartier 
selected a site for Winter quarters, and a fort was 



194 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

built here. He docked two of his ships for the 
Winter, but the smaller one, VEmerillon, he left in 
the stream, reminding his guides of their promise 
to go with him to Hochelaga. But a change had 
come over these young men ; they no longer trusted 
the Frenchmen, and Taignoaguy turned out to be a 
rascal. He tried to induce Cartier and his people 
to go unarmed, saying that Donnacona w^as grieved 
about it because the Indians never wore arms. Car- 
tier replied that the French always wore their arms 
at home, as he and Domagaya knew, and he after- 
wards learned that Taignoaguy was trying to stir 
up mischief and ill feeling among his people. 

All this was patched up later, but the old Chief 
persisted in his refusal to allow his people to go 
with Cartier to Hochelaga. Even " black magic " 
was employed to try and dissuade the navigator, who 
persisted in his determination and set out with fifty 
sailors and all the gentlemen companions on the ex- 
pedition. Soon, the river spread out two or three 
miles in width, looking more like a sea than a river. 
They w^ere now in a beautiful country of magnifi- 
cent trees, and grapes grew in wild profusion. This 
was the broad highway between Montreal and Que- 
bec, so well known to-day that there is little need 
to describe it. 

There is one place familiar to mariners where the 
currents are swift and dangerous. It is called 
Richelieu (from an island there, so named by 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 195 

Champlain, who built a fort upon it), and to-day 
ocean steamships time their departure from Mon- 
treal and Quebec so as to pass it at high tide. Here 
Cartier was met by a friendly chief who gave him 
his little girl for a present, and this child was the 
only one who survived of all the Indians whom Car- 
tier carried home the following Spring. 

On October 2d, the boats arrived at Hochelaga, 
and more than a thousand people came to welcome 
them, bringing their children to touch these 
strangers who were looked upon as sacred. No 
welcome could have been warmer or heartier. In- 
deed, in all Cartier's progress there was no sus- 
picion of outbreak, no unfriendly sign. When, clad 
in their finest, he and his companions entered Hoch- 
elaga, all the people crowded around with respect 
and awe, bringing their sick that the touch of the 
strangers might heal them. Strange to say there 
was no priest among these Frenchmen, but Cartier 
prayed for them in his simple, manly way, and read 
the story of the Lord's Passion from his own prayer 
book, and talked of Heaven and made gestures of 
devotion that the Indians understood in their child- 
fashion. 

Perhaps it was the peaceful beauty of the land 
around him that inspired the conduct of Cartier. 
There was true nobility in the rough sailor, and 
there was also beyond a doubt the royalty of true 
hospitality in the wild men who listened to him with 



196 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

so much reverence. In all that wide Canadian land 
there were no dark records of persecution such as 
the Spaniards left behind them. Christianity was 
spread not through terror but through love. The 
French explorers, without exception, knew how to 
secure the red men's friendship. Cartier had no 
guile; he offered his right hand freely and treated 
his allies with open good fellowship. Champlain 
was a father to his wondering, ignorant people. 
Even the proud and haughty La Salle did his best 
to conciliate them, and the missionaries who early 
invaded that forest land came in love and with no 
thought beyond saving the souls of the forest chil- 
dren. 

Mount Royal, which overlooks the city of Mon- 
treal, made a deep impression upon Jacques Cartier 
and his people who ascended it. They could see 
for miles around where lay the mysterious West 
which they hoped to penetrate, and the Ottawa River 
which opened out into the Lake of the Two Moun- 
tains. The St. Lawrence flowed southwest into 
Lake St. Louis, while nearer the booming of the 
rapids could be distinctly heard. Far in the dis- 
tance their eyes could see the dim outlines of many 
mountain rages — the Adirondacks of New York, 
the Green Mountains of Vermont, seeming in the 
clear October air, much nearer than they really were. 

At the foot of the Mountain, Cartier could see 
the Indian town, with his boats five miles away. 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 197 

This beautiful level valley delighted him, and it was 
he who called the place Mount Royal. It still bears 
its name, which also accounts for the name of the 
busy and beautiful city of Montreal built around its 
base. Montreal is a city of many churches, and on 
the spot where Cartier stood when he read from his 
Book of Prayer to the wondering Indians stands a 
stately cathedral. For the first day spent by a white 
man in Montreal nearly four hundred years ago, 
w^ith his simple prayers for the welfare of those who 
listened, is still remembered. 

The French turned back to their boats after a day 
full of pleasant and novel experiences. The In- 
dians parted from their guests with sorrow, and 
soon the little ship rEmerillon was on its way back 
to the " Province of Canada " and the " Harbour of 
St. Croix." Cartier found his crew had been busy 
during his absence, for they had made a strong fort 
with heavy logs, quite close to the docked ships, 
and had mounted their cannon upon it to be used 
in case of defence. 

His Indian friends were glad to welcome him 
back; but in spite of their pleasant associations the 
two Indian youths whom Cartier had treated so 
kindly tried their best to bring about trouble, and 
the French were warned by neighbouring chiefs to 
be careful and on their guard. 

The Indians had made preparations for the Win- 
ter, and for the first time Cartier saw tobacco used, 



198 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and described very quaintly how the men filled them- 
selves up with smoke until it poured out of their 
mouths and nostrils as from a chimney stack. But 
he had no idea of what a Winter in Canada was to 
be. The Indians and the French alike were attacked 
by a disease often brought upon the early settlers 
by cold, exposure, and poor food. Men died like 
rats, and those who were left scarcely had the 
strength to bury their dead. Even then there was 
no mutiny; all the crews w^orked shoulder to shoul- 
der with their Captain, and their one object was not 
to let the Indians know how their ranks had thinned 
out. 

At last, the tide turned. One of the Indian boys, 
Domagaya, who had been ill, was quite restored by 
the healing virtues of a tree called arneda. An ex- 
tract w^as made of the leaves and bark and the ef- 
fect was miraculous. The extract was given as 
medicine, and the body was rubbed with what was 
left after soaking. 

" They would never have seen France again," 
writes Cartier himself, who, strange to say, had kept 
quite well, " unless God in His Infinite goodness and 
mercy had not looked upon them in pity, and given 
them knowledge of a remedy against all diseases, 
the most excellent that was ever seen or known in 
all the earth." But this was not before twenty-five 
of the best among the crew had died of the disease. 
This tree has been the subject of much discussion. 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 199 

but It has been satisfactorily proved that it was a 
species of balsam fir, well known among medicinal 
trees. 

Their ships, which had been shut in from Novem- 
ber, 1535, to April, 1536, were overhauled when the 
Spring came, but there were not enough men left 
to navigate the three, so la Petite Hermine was 
abandoned and the hull was given to some neigh- 
bouring Indians for the sake of the iron. 

Meantime, Donnacona, "the Lord of Canada," 
and Talgnoaguy, the treacherous Indian boy, had re- 
turned from their long Winter hunt, bringing a large 
number of Indians back with them, — ^uch a force 
as to look suspicious, though they might have been 
merely curious to see the strangers. At any rate, 
Donnacona acted strangely, feigning illness to avoid 
seeing Cartier's messengers. So the bold French- 
man acted sharply and quickly; he carried off Don- 
nacona, Talgnoaguy, and half-a-dozen other chiefs, 
and put them on his ships, intending to take them 
to France. At the same time he secured them as 
hostages in case harm should befall his own people. 

It was a great move, and while a tricky one, it 
prevented bloodshed and massacre. The chiefs 
were not treated as prisoners but as honoured guests. 
Donnacona, who had seen a great deal of the coun- 
try, was noted for telling many astonishing tales 
of things he had come across in his adventures. He 
asserted that in the Saguenay region gold and sil- 



200 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

ver, rubies and other riches were found in great 
quantities. He told of another country where the 
natives never ate, and of still another where the 
people had only one leg. Cartier felt that he could 
not do justice to these tales, as Donnacona could', 
and so he deemed it the wisest thing to bring the 
" Lord of Canada " to the palace of the King of 
France and let him tell his own stories. 

On May 3d, the ships were ready to sail, and 
Cartier allowed the leading men of the tribe to 
come on board and say good-bye to their chief whom 
he promised to bring back the next year with great 
presents from the King. It was May 6th, before 
they were finally at sea, and just two months later, 
after a prosperous voyage, the expedition arrived at 
St. Malo and Cartier had the proud distinction of 
having penetrated to the very heart of Canada. 

Cartier's third expedition was not so successful, 
though it attracted more notice. France was again 
in a state of upheaval, and Cartier's former patron, 
Admiral Chabot, was in disgrace. So it was quite 
five years before another voyage was planned. 
Meanwhile, Donnacona and most of the chiefs he 
had brought to France were dead, which was bad 
news to carry back to the Indians. 

When at last the royal commission was given, 
Cartier found he was not at the head of the expedi- 
tion. Jean Frangois de La Roque, Sieur de Rober- 
val, was given the chief command, and the ships 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 201 

were to be manned by convicts, — the very worst 
crews that could be selected. The experienced 
navigator was thrust aside, his opinions, his ad- 
vice ignored, while a landsman, utterly ignorant of 
seafaring, had supreme power. He was not even 
well known among the men of his time, and there 
was always friction between him and the honest 
Breton sailor. 

Cartier was able to leave St. Malo with the five 
ships in May, 1541, ahead of Roberval, who was 
to follow later with two other ships. After a tedi- 
ous voyage they reached their old harbour on Au- 
gust 23d, just three months from the day of sail- 
ing. The Indians pressed on board to inquire after 
their countrymen. They were told that Donnacona 
was dead, but Cartier thought it wiser to conceal 
the deaths of the others, and the Indians could only 
learn that they were married and happy in France. 

They pretended great joy at seeing the French- 
men, but Cartier could feel that it was only pre- 
tence; that all the friendship and good-will of these 
simple people were forfeited by the kidnapping of 
their chiefs. He was consequently afraid to trust 
his vessels in the old harbour. He selected a spot 
now known as Cape Rouge, on the north shore, four 
leagues above the other, where a small stream falls 
into the main St. Lawrence. Here he landed his 
supplies, and put up three of his ships. The other 
one, manned by his brother-in-law, Mace Jalobert, 



202 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and the fifth by his nephew, Stephen Noel, were sent 
back to France with letters to the King, stating that 
Roberval had not been heard from and that there 
were fears for his safety. 

Cartier's experiences among the savages were not 
so pleasant, and his connection with Roberval, who 
finally arrived, was most unfortunate, while the law- 
lessness among the motley crews beggared descrip- 
tion. Indeed, even before Roberval's belated ships 
arrived at Newfoundland, Cartier and the rem- 
nant of his crews had abandoned their enterprise 
and were on their way back to France. They met 
Roberval in the harbour of St. John's, and the com- 
mander ordered Cartier to turn back, but this Car- 
tier refused to do. He had fulfilled the King's 
orders by conducting the expedition to Canada; he 
would not be dependent on the will of Roberval, 
who never reached Newfoundland for a whole year 
after he was due. Besides, he reported, the Indians 
were hostile and his party was not strong enough 
to resist them. There was a stormy interview, but 
Cartier avoided bloodshed by sailing away in the 
night ; he was unwilling to suffer a Winter in Can- 
ada under the sway of Roberval. 

We might trace much further this opening of the 
Gateway of Canada, but after Cartier's exit the 
future pioneers followed the trails he had blazed. 
To Cartier belonged all the honours of the discov- 
ery. He had conducted three expeditions to Can- 



OPENING GATEWAY OF CANADA 203 

ada, and his men, knowing instinctively the strength 
of the master, gave him willing obedience. There 
was neither mutiny nor treason in Cartier's crews, 
and while other great sailors only touched the shores 
of these new lands, Cartier penetrated to the very 
heart, and the valley of the " majestic river of the 
north," the beautiful St. Lawrence, was the spot 
of gold found by this brave, good-hearted, compe- 
tent sailor of St. Malo. 

The Breton Captain may have been inferior in 
education and intellect to Columbus, but in private 
life and public service he could have given the great 
Admiral many points. True, Columbus showed the 
way to the New World, and Cartier only followed 
in his wake, but in mercy, in kindness, and in justice 
the Breton navigator was far ahead of the Genoese 
admiral. A kindly humour touched his simple life, 
and though he had no children of hia own it is 
stated on good authority that he was sponsor at 
more than seventy baptisms, and many little per- 
sonal details which we cannot find so readily among 
the records of other navigators show that the dis- 
coverer of Canada was a genial soul when off duty. 
It must have been this social quality which en- 
deared him to both the white and the red men in 
the wilds of the New World and made his lightest 
word a law. 

Many great names form the foundation stones of 
Canada — La Salle, Joliet, Marquette, with the vast 



204 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

hosts of priestly missionaries. But we are deal- 
ing here only with the pioneers, and there are but 
two who are directly responsible for the making 
of Canada — Jacques Cartier and his most worthy 
successor, Champlain. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 

THE hunt for the Northwest passage to Asia 
had become almost a fable among the ad- 
venturous spirits that still haunted the high seas. 

The explorer or discoverer, whichever he might 
happen to be, invariably set forth upon his quest 
with that hope. To bring back to his country the 
key which would open the gates of the Indies 
would be to pour into the coffers of the king untold 
wealth. Spain had more nearly fulfilled this golden 
dream. Cortes, it is true, had not found the long- 
sought passage, but he had invaded and conquered 
dazzling Mexico, and Spanish navigators had taken 
possession of the waters roundabout; for the West 
Indies yielded rich products and the merchant ships 
made many voyages from Old to New Spain and 
back again with their cargoes of spices and gold 
and silver. 

The extravagant visions of the adventurers knew 
no bounds. They carried back marvellous tales of 
wealth to their homes in Spain, indulging in ro- 
mantic and riotous dreams. The most impossible 

205 



2o6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

things became facts to their fevered imaginations, 
even to the extent of sending an old and tried cav- 
alier like Juan Ponce de Leon in search of the foun- 
tain of youth that he might bathe in its waters and 
become young again. This fountain w^s supposed 
to be hidden somewhere on the Island of Bimini, 
one of the Bahama group, and it was also stated 
that on the neighbouring shore was a river gifted 
with the same magical properties, believed by many 
to be the biblical River Jordan. 

De Leon found the Island of Bimini, but neither 
the river nor the fountain of youth. Instead, he 
struck an unknown coastline farther west, a great 
virgin land which he called Florida. It was a vast 
stretch of unexplored region, embracing within its 
boundaries the country we know to-day as Canada, 
and the eager voyager sent his dreams beyond the 
low margin of forest which bounded his horizon, 
and wondered what rich harvest awaited future con- 
querors. Cortes and his brilliant exploits were 
things too recent to be quickly forgotten, and the 
primeval forests, of which Longfellow writes so 
beautifully in his " Evangeline," stood there in their 
impenetrable mystery. What a description our poet 
has given of them as they appeared in the Acadian 
days, — days when the white man had blazed his trail 
through their cathedral depths and the red man 
lurked in the shadows of the trees ! 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 207 

" This is the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and 
the hemlocks, 

Bearded with moss, and with garments green, indistinct 
in the twiHght 

Stand the Druids of old, with voices sad and pathetic, 

Stand like harpers hoar, with beards that rest on their 
bosoms. 

Loud from its rocky caverns, the deep-voiced neighbour- 
ing ocean 

Speaks, and in accents disconsolate, answers the wail of 
the forest." 

And this was the forest which girdled the peace- 
ful forest of Grand-Pre before the English burned 
the homes of the poor inhabitants and drove them 
forth to starvation and death in the wilderness. 

The Spanish adventurers had begun to usurp 
everything, and Spain, with her gloomy fanaticism, 
cast an ominous shadow over the world. But such 
a power as hers was not to be left undisputed. Both 
England and France demanded their slice of the 
New World, and in France particularly there was 
waging, in the middle of the sixteenth century, a 
violent religious war, — a fight between Catholics 
and Huguenots. All this is a matter of history; 
we only know that the Huguenots, threatening to 
overrun France, were banished by the Edict of 
Nantes, and even before then the eyes of the most 
provident were turned towards the sea and towards 
those unknown lands where freedom to worship 



2o8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

God was to be the watchword of many a new rising 
colony. 

The rapid growth of this new religion in France 
was like a tale of wonder. Great names headed the 
Reformers, and Gaspar de Coligny, Admiral of 
France, was one of its staunchest supporters, while 
many of the banished Huguenots found an abiding 
place in Geneva, and a guide in the great Calvin who 
was founder of a new faith. All over Europe this 
new faith was spreading, and more and more, each 
year, Spain became a Catholic stronghold. 

In France the fight was fast turning into bloody 
warfare, for the unscrupulous Catharine de Medici 
was ruling her weak son, Henry III, and she did all 
in her power to check the rising of the Huguenots. 
But when men fight for their consciences they gen- 
erally put all their strength into the battle, and many 
who escaped the fury of the reigning house of 
Valois were glad enough to take their lives in their 
own hands and go across the seas. In this way 
much of our New World was colonised by men and 
women of indomitable spirit and purpose. That is 
why the people of New England are so proud of 
saying : " Our ancestors came in the Mayflozver." 

It was not that the Pilgrim Fathers were so very 
great in name or lineage ; but they were gigantic in 
strength and endurance, and those who came after 
them were proud to possess this Puritan streak. 

In the same way, the Canadians boast of the an- 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 209 

cestors who came over to New France with Pont- 
grave and Sieur de Champlain. It was not that 
these two men were so great in name, but they 
were earnest in purpose, and each in his way did 
more to establish the white man in this vast impene- 
trable tract of country than any other of their con- 
temporaries. 

Pontgrave was a trader by nature and profession. 
He came and went between the Old World and the 
New, exchanging the products of the countries, tak- 
ing furs and skins from the savages, bringing back 
stuffs and manufactured articles, and many an ad- 
venturer cast in his lot with the bold merchant. 
When Henry of Navarre became Henry IV of 
France, there were powerful men at Court who 
urged upon the King the wisdom of colonising New 
France. 

Aymar de Chastes, an ardent supporter of the 
new King and one to whom he was heard to say 
he owed his own salvation and that of France, came 
to Court to beg a " patent " which was, in other 
words, a legal grant to settle in New France and to 
trade there. 

The King was ready to give what cost him noth- 
ing, and thus armed, de Chastes fitted out two small 
vessels at his own expense, and formed a company 
of the most prominent merchants who might other- 
wise have proved his rivals. Pontgrave, who had 
been to New France with one Chanoine, a Captain 



210 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

of the Navy, and had established a fur-trading sta- 
tion at Tadoussac, at the mouth of the Saguenay 
River, was chosen, on account of his knowledge of 
the country, to go ahead and explore some of the 
unknown coastlines. 

Just before he sailed from the harbour of Hon- 
fleur, a young man bearing a letter from de Chastes 
arrived upon the scene. This was Samuel de 
Champlain, a young soldier of fortune, eager for 
adventure and dauntless of peril, and these two cast 
in their lots together and sailed for the West. Such 
strange companions yet such trusty comrades as 
the years went by ! The one a keen merchant, with 
an eye on the commercial value of things; the other 
an earnest enthusiast, eager to found a colony, to 
teach the Indians and make friends of them, to 
serve God and his King. Such was the Sieur de 
Champlain, the beloved of his followers, affection- 
ately called by his people, " The Father of New. 
France." 

It has been well said that the story of Champlain*s 
life is the story of the foundation of the French 
Empire in America. He was born in the year 1567 
in the little town of Brouage, on the Bay of Biscay. 
He came of sea-faring folk and had no glorious an- 
cestors to boast about. His grandfather was prob- 
ably a fisherman; his own father was a captain in 
the navy; and one of his uncles became a distin- 
guished pilot. So the sea was Champlain's familiar 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 211 

companion from boyhood and bred In him an amount 
of courage and confidence which grew with his 
growth and made of him an excellent seaman. 

Besides this, he knew something of fighting, for 
France was torn by civil war — the Catholics 
against the Huguenots — and Brouage being a post 
of some importance was captured and recaptured by 
one faction or another from the time of his baby- 
hood until he was old enough to bear arms for his 
country. There is no doubt that a lad of spirit like 
Champlain was early trained for his country's serv- 
ice. But he was also schooled above the youth of 
his time, for his accounts of his many adventures 
have been written in a simple, manly style, which 
shows both learning and modesty. 

He fought at one time for France against Spanish 
encroachments, and at the close of this war the town 
of Blavet, in Bretagne, where Champlain was serv- 
ing, happened to be occupied by a Spanish garrison, 
and Champlain's uncle was commissioned to escort 
them back to Spain. Young Champlain accom- 
panied him and managed so well that he was per- 
mitted to visit the West Indies as Captain of a ship. 
He made the most of this chance and was absent 
over two years, visiting all the islands and Mexico, 
and his clear and far-seeing eye was the first to 
point out the possibiHty of a canal at Panama. 

Though he fought against the Catholic League 
he did so because he was not in sympathy with their 



212 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

wicked methods. He was a staunch CathoHc, yet, 
while he loved his religion he loved his country bet- 
ter, and fought to save France and to help the dash- 
ing Navarre whom he could not but admire. But 
he never embraced the new faith, and when he took 
in hand the conversion of the Indian tribes it was 
with the assistance of the RecoUet and Jesuit priests 
who established missions among the savages. As 
long as they received kind and fair treatment these 
children of the forests were tractable, and the re- 
ligious teaching certainly made them more civilised. 

Pontgrave's two little ships set out from Honfleur 
on March 15, 1603. They had a heavy voyage and 
continual storms which lasted from the 30th of 
March to the 1 6th of April. On May 6th, they ap- 
proached Newfoundland, and arrived at Tadousac 
on the 24th, where they were met by a hundred sav- 
ages who were rejoicing on account of their recent 
victory over the Iroquois. Champlain became asso- 
ciated for the first time with these Indians, who were 
to lend such a brilliantly coloured background to his 
own deeds and to the settlement of Canada. 

He had received the King's commission to explore 
the country, but he found his path beset with diffi- 
culties. The land was intersected by rivers and 
shut in by great lakes, so wild and of such extent 
that it almost looked as if the ocean had forsaken 
the coast and crept inland. Indeed it was a land 
of turbulent waters, and navigation in their frail 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 213 

craft was dangerous on account of rapids and rocks. 
Even the Indians were cautious in venturing with 
their canoes, for the frail things were apt to be 
caught by some hidden undercurrent and swept to 
destruction. There is nothing which colours the 
imagination more vividly than the seething and 
bubbling of wild waters, and we find Champlain's 
journal abounding in descriptions of the marvellous. 
Although he was earnest and sagacious, his mind 
was highly coloured with romance, and he really 
believed he saw such a sight as a monster with the 
wings of a bat, the head of an eagle, and the tail 
of an alligator which was supposed to haunt cer- 
tain regions in Mexico. Perhaps his own coloured 
drawings are responsible for his wild ideas; there 
were sixty-one of them drawn very much as a child 
might draw. 

But the rough and turbulent waters baffled him, 
and after Pontgrave had done his trading with the 
Indians, Champlain was forced to return to France 
with nothing to show but a few rough maps- There 
they learned of the death of their patron. Com- 
mander de Chastes. But Pierre du Guast, Sieur de 
Monts, his successor, was quite as eager for the 
colonisation of New France, and in 1604 we find 
Champlain in his company, once more on his way 
across the sea. The Sieur de Monts, in equipping 
his two vessels for service, retained many of the old 
company. But his crew was not selected with care. 



214 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

for besides many trusty men like Champlain, many 
idlers and vagabonds were taken as colonists, and 
many Catholic priests and Huguenot ministers found 
themselves rather too close together for comfort. 
Consequently there were frequent brawls on the 
commander's ship, and it is told with horror by a 
Franciscan friar that on reaching their destination, 
a priest and a minister happening to die at the same 
time, they were buried in one grave to see if they 
could lie peaceably together. However this may be, 
and however much we might sympathise with the 
Huguenots in their earnest fight for freedom to 
worship God in their own way, it was to the Catholic 
priests that New France turned in her early days. 

The Indians, especially those around the present 
sites of Montreal and Quebec, were a grandly simple 
and picturesque race. The Jesuit priests and the 
Recollet Fathers who ventured into the wilderness 
to teach and convert them, seldom betrayed their 
trust, and in return these childlike people were 
willing to be taught something of the new religion. 
It was slow and difficult work, for the tribes had 
their legends and their myths and mystic ceremonies, 
and it was no easy matter to fit them to the miracles 
in the Holy Church. 

But from the beginning of colonisation, the priests 
had an active ally in Champlain himself. For from 
the first the savage's unerring instinct knew him as 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 215 

their friend, and not once during* his many adven- 
tures did he fail them in their need. 

The Sieur de Monts sailed from the port of Havre 
de Grace on April 7, 1604, followed three days later 
by the enterprising Pontgrave with his ship of sup- 
plies. De Monts — in hunting for a safe harbour 
when they reached New France, — avoided the cold, 
bleak shores of the St. Lawrence. He had wintered 
there one fearful season with Chauvin, but he found 
at last a sheltered harbour on the coast of Nova 
Scotia, which he called Port Mouton because a sheep 
here leaped overboard, and the explorers had to wait 
nearly a month for Pontgrave and his store-ship. 
He came at last, having stopped on the way to cap- 
ture some Basque fur-traders, and then De Monts' 
ship continued its voyage. 

The untiring Champlain spent his time exploring 
and making charts of all the principal roads and 
harbours. At last he reached a river near the mouth 
of which was a little island fenced round with rocks 
and shoals. He called it St. Croix, a name now 
borne by the river itself. This spot was chosen 
as the site of the new colony. It was a most un- 
fortunate selection, though it commanded the river 
and was well fitted for the defence. It was covered 
with cedars when Champlain first caught sight of 
it, but these trees had to be felled to build barracks 
for the soldiers and houses and storehouses for the 



2i6 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

colonists, and by the time this was done the northern 
end of the island was covered with buildings, and 
only one solitary tree was left standing. 

Champlain having secured, as he thought, an ex- 
cellent site, hastened back to inform De Monts, 
whose ship for two weeks had lain at anchor in St. 
Mary's Bay, sending boats' crews to explore the 
adjacent coasts. One day a party went to stroll 
through the forest. Among them was a priest, 
Nicolas Aubry, who, after walking a long way, 
stopped for a drink of water from a sparkling brook. 
In order to stoop more easily, he took off his sword 
and laid it on the ground beside him ; then, his thirst 
slackened, he hurried after his companions, for- 
getting his weapon. When he discovered his loss, 
he turned back to find it and lost his way in the 
dense forest. In vain his companions shouted and 
called, running here and there in search of him. 
Trumpets were sounded and cannon fired from the 
ships, but there was no sign of the priest. Days 
passed; Champlain returned with news of Winter 
quarters, and they were forced to leave the priest, 
if he was alive, to his fate in the wilderness. In 
the meantime, it was easy to accuse a Huguenot, 
with whom the priest had quarrelled, of killing him, 
and though the man stoutly denied the charge he 
was not believed, and Aubry was given up for dead. 
When the voyagers reached St. Croix, they set 
to work right lustily to build their Winter quarters, 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 217 

and after a few weeks, Champdore, one of De 
Monts' pilots, was sent back to St. Mary's Bay in 
search of iron and silver of which the voyagers 
thought they found traces. While he and his men 
lay at anchor fishing, one of them heard a sound 
like a weak human voice, and looking towards the 
shore they saw a strange black object waving on a 
stick. It was a hat, and rowing to the spot, they 
found the poor priest who had wandered in the 
woods for sixteen days, living on berries and wild 
fruits, a shadow of himself. There was great re- 
joicing when they took him back to St. Croix. But 
history does not tell us if they made any apology to 
the unjustly accused Huguenot. 

The little settlement was swept by the bleak winds 
of Autumn, the howling blasts and drifting snows of 
Winter. Sheets of ice rushed by, cutting off sup- 
plies of wood and water from the mainland. A belt 
of cedars had been left standing, hedging the island, 
but De Monts would not have them cut down, for 
they were a shield against the pitiless north winds. 
Cider and wine froze in the casks and were served 
out by the pound. 

Disease broke out in the half- famished, half- 
frozen community. The little cemetery soon began 
to fill; out of the seventy-nine who took refuge on 
the island, thirty-five were dead before Spring, and 
many more were on the very verge of death. Yet 
among these fainting bodies and disheartened souls 



2i8 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

there was one who walked erect and whose courage 
never faltered, and this was the Sieur de Champlain, 
whose dream of a colony in New France was 
founded on an earnest desire not to benefit himself 
but to do the best for his country and for his fellow 
men. 

De Monts determined never again to winter at 
St. Croix. All Spring and Summer the French 
spent in their ships, exploring the coastline farther 
south. They touched Maine's indented coast, passed 
Mount Desert and Penobscot River, the mouth of 
which had been open to fur-traders for many years, 
the settlement there having been known by the name 
of Norembega. It was an important point, just as 
Tadousac was to the fur-traders in Canada. 

Indeed, in their own peculiar way these fur- 
traders did more than the more single-hearted ex- 
plorers in penetrating the wilderness. Trade is al- 
most an instinct with people, whether civilised or 
savage, and the new-comers drove bargains with the 
Indians for pelts and skins. As the white man in- 
variably cheated, the red man soon became both 
cunning and crafty, and Champlain, in his open- 
hearted, fair-minded intercourse with them, had 
much to contend with in the presence of the fur- 
traders whom the Indians soon began to regard 
as their natural enemies. 

The explorers saw the White Mountains in the 
distance as they passed southward in their frail little 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 219 

bark. They held the course by the beaches which 
are famihar to us to-day as York, Wells, Ports- 
mouth Harbour, the Isle of Shoals, Rye Beach, and 
Hampton Beach. They entered Massachusetts Bay 
and gave the name of Riviere du Guast to a river 
flowing into it, probably the Charles. They passed 
the islands of Boston harbour, and Champlain him- 
self has left us graphic descriptions of this smiling 
virgin country, for it was before the coming of 
the Pilgrims and everywhere was the fulness of 
summer-time instead of the bleak December which 
brought the Pilgrim Fathers shivering to the deso- 
late shores. Indeed, on the very site of Plymouth, 
Champlain describes the Indian wigwams and 
garden patches that he found there. Of the Indians 
too, who swarmed at every point, Champlain's ac- 
count is the most vivid and trustworthy, while his 
maps, crude as they were, proved an excellent guide 
to future explorers and map-makers. 

But De Monts and his handful of men, after a 
Summer of exploration, had as yet been able to find 
no spot for their Winter quarters. They returned 
to St. Croix rather discouraged, until De Monts be- 
thought himself of Port Royal, an inland harbour 
across the Bay of Fundy. He had granted it to one 
of his followers, Poutrincourt, a gentleman of 
France, and it was reached through Annapolis Har- 
bour by way of a small inlet which, as they entered 
it, spread suddenly into a broad and tranquil basin. 



220 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

surrounded by sunny, well-wooded hills, and echoing 
with water-falls. Poutrincourt was so delighted 
with the spot that he determined to go back to 
France for his family and bring them to live there, 
and he asked a grant of the place from De Monts 
who, by his patent, owned nearly half the continent. 

The grant was made, and Poutrincourt, after hav- 
ing seen his companions as he thought comfortably 
housed for the Winter at the ill-fated St. Croix, 
set sail for France, intending to return and settle 
at Port Royal. It was on this spot that De Monts 
proposed to find shelter for the coming Winter. 
Stores, utensils, and even parts of the St. Croix 
buildings were carried across the bay; the axes 
cleared the forest, and the buildings of the new. 
colony soon rose. Meanwhile De Monts learned 
that he had enemies in Paris whose jealousies might 
wrest his country from him. He was obliged to re- 
turn to France, but he left the sturdy merchant Pont- 
grave in command, while Champlain, Champdore — 
their pilot, — and many other brave gentlemen vol- 
unteered to spend another Winter in the wilderness. 

The daring handful of men fared better at Port 
Royal than at St. Croix. It was a sheltered spot, 
and the Winter, while severe, soon melted into 
Spring. Champlain was a great lover of nature; 
wherever he lived gardens flourished, and there were 
green meadows and clear waters around Port Royal, 
and fish in the streams, and birds chirped in the 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 221 

branches of beautiful trees. Champlain and Pont- 
grave did all they could to keep the little colony 
together, but provisions were failing and there was 
no sign of the return of either De Monts or Poutrin- 
court from France. Indeed, these gentlemen were 
having a hard time trying to convince people that 
New France was anything more than a wilderness, 
a pitiless climate where lurked disease and misery 
and death. 

But though De Monts was forced to stay behind, 
Poutrincourt bestirred himself with so much zeal 
that finally after many disasters and disappointments 
he was able to put out to sea in a ship called the 
Jonas, on the thirteenth of May, 1606, with a most 
disorderly crew, but accompanied by a firm friend, 
one Marc Lescarbot, a retired lawyer who ever after- 
wards was associated with the history and the colon- 
isation of New France. He was a gifted man in 
many ways; he could write in prose and verse. 
What it took Champlain many laborious pages to 
describe, Lescarbot could do in a few bold sentences. 
One of the best records of the settlement of North 
America comes from him, and he proved himself 
equally able to build up a colony when set to the 
task. 

The voyagers were two months on their way, and 
towards the last they were wrapped in impenetrable 
fogs while waiting for the welcome cry of land. 
Then of a sudden the mists parted, the sun shone 



222 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

forth clear and bright over the fresh hills and for- 
ests of the New World, though cruel black rocks 
lay between them and the land from which came 
fragrant odours, borne by soft warm winds that 
intoxicated the new comers. 

On July 27th, the Jonas passed through the rocky 
gateway of the Port Royal Basin, but everything was 
appalling still, until suddenly a birch canoe came cau- 
tiously towards them, guided by an old Indian, 
named Memberton, the famous and faithful friend 
of the colony. Then a Frenchman, arquebus in 
hand, came down to the shore, and immediately 
afterward there was a salute from the little wooden 
building they called a fort. The ships replied, and 
trumpets added to the din that echoed to the farthest 
corner of the forests and hills. When the voy- 
agers landed they found to their amazement that the 
colony at Port Royal had dwindled to two solitary 
Frenchmen and the old Indian. 

The story was soon told. After waiting for 
months for supplies and tidings of De Monts or 
Poutrincourt, Pontgrave became anxious. He had 
two small vessels built, and just twelve days before 
the arrival of the Jonas he had set out in search of 
some of the French vessels on the fishing stations. 
All embarked save two men who had bravely offered 
to stay behind on guard, and the old Indian chief 
who, when the ship approached, gave the alarm and 
roused the two guardians from their dinner. Doubt- 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 222, 

ful whether they were friends or enemies, one ran to 
the shore with his gun and the other went to the 
platform which held their four mounted cannon, 
resolved to show fight if need be. 

The new comers brought great joy to the little 
colony at Port Royal, and there was even greater 
rejoicing when Pontgrave's vessels entered the har- 
bour. Later, Pontgrave sailed back to France in 
the Jonas, hoping to seize contraband fur-traders 
on his way. Poutrincourt and Champlain, bent on 
finding a better site for their colony, set out on an- 
other voyage in a badly built vessel, leaving Lescar- 
bot in command at the fort. But they found noth- 
ing after all their dangers and hardships, and mis- 
haps. During a stormy night their rudder broke 
and they had a hair-breadth escape from death. 
Pontgrave's son had his hand blown off by the burst- 
ing of his gun; many of their number had been 
killed ; many were sick or wounded in their encoun- 
ters with unfriendly savages. On the 14th of No- 
vember, they guided their helpless vessel with a pair 
of oars back to the landing at Port Royal, where 
they were met with great ceremony by Lescarbot, 
dressed as Neptune, and those under him as Tritons. 
Neptune greeted the voyagers in good French verse 
written by himself, and as they entered the gate- 
way they beheld over the arch, the arms of France, 
and on either side the escutcheons of De Monts and 
Poutrincourt. 



224 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Without Lescarbot's hopefulness and spirit and 
ingenuity, even Champlain could not have accom- 
plished what he did. The man's genial, fun-loving 
nature carried them through some very hard times, 
and it was no doubt at his suggestion that Cham- 
plain established at Port Royal what was known as 
the Order of Mirth (L'Ordre de Bon Temps). 

Most bountiful provision had been made for the 
wants of the colonists through the thought fulness 
and liberality of De Monts and two merchants of 
Rochelle, at which port the Jonas had been laden 
with supplies. 

There were fifteen gentlemen who sat at Poutrin- 
court's table and these Champlain initiated into the 
Order of Mirth. Each day a new Grand Master 
was elected whose duty it was to provide the bill of 
fare, and so Poutrincourt's table groaned with the 
good things of the forest, while every man at Port 
Royal was allowed a daily portion of three pints of 
wine. 

" Whatever our gourmands at home may think,"' 
wrote Lescarbot, " we found as good cheer at Port 
Royal as they in Paris, and that too at a cheaper 
rate." 

During his day of office, the Grand Master was 
autocrat of the kitchen. When the noontide dinner 
hour had struck, he entered the hall, a napkin on his 
shoulder, his staff of office in his hand, the collar 
of the Order around his neck. He was followed by 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 225 

the others, each bearing a dish. The invited guests, 
mostly Indian chiefs with old Memberton always 
among them, sat at the table with the French, while 
the warriors, squaws, and children sat on the floor, 
waiting hungrily for their portion of the feast. 

There was also a supper, and when the Winter 
nights closed in, the Frenchmen and their tawny 
friends gathered round a roaring fire where the 
Grand Master resigned the collar and the staff to his 
successor, pledging him in a cup of wine. Those 
were great days at Port Royal, and when the Win- 
ter snows began to thaw, they saw the grain they 
had sown the last Autumn already peeping out of 
the black, oozy soil. Poutrincourt, Champlain, and 
Lescarbot worked like honest farmers, an incentive 
to the others, and there was promise in the new 
land. 

But one morning a small vessel anchored before 
the fort, bringing disastrous tidings. Enemies had 
been at w^ork in France, and De Monts was deprived 
of all his rights. Port Royal must be abandoned, 
for there was no longer money to keep it up. So 
amid the wailings of their Indian allies they were 
forced to go. In July, 1607, they bade farewell to 
the dwellings, the cornfields, the gardens of the 
prosperous little settlement. Lescarbot went ahead, 
but Poutrincourt and Champlain remained behind 
to see the results of their agricultural labours. 
Then they went in an open boat from Port Royal to 



226 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Canseau, where the Jonas still lay, and where they 
met their more adventurous companion. For a few 
days they gathered raspberries on the islands, and 
then set sail for France, reaching St. Malo in Octo- 
ber, 1607. 

Champlain had been away from France three 
years and a half, and although treachery had spoiled 
all his work he was still undaunted. The English 
had already founded their colony of Jamestown and 
were spreading their dominion rapidly, even en- 
croaching on Acadia on the north. Champlain 
went at once with his maps and charts to the 
Sieur de Monts, and gave him an account of all 
that had happened at Port Royal. De Monts re- 
solved in spite of his misfortunes to persevere and 
make one more effort to plant a colony, this time 
by Champlain's advice in Canada. He obtained 
a commission from Henry IV for the sole fur trade 
with Canada for one year. Two ships were fitted 
out at Honfleur. Pontgrave, in charge of all the 
trading, sailed in one, April, 1608; and Champlain, 
De Monts' lieutenant in all other matters, left a few 
days later, after a friendly good-bye to his old com- 
rades. 

Poutrincourt was busy scheming to get back to 
Port Royal. Lescarbot wrote a farewell poem to his 
friend, who sailed away full of high hopes and de- 
sires. He reached Tadoussac, the old fur-trading 
station of New France, to find Pontgrave already in 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 227 

trouble with the fur-traders. But Champlain's ar- 
rival straightened things out, for he was as just 
as he was fearless, and fur-traders and Indians alike 
respected him. 

On the last of June they sailed up the St. Law- 
rence, past high mountains and miles of verdant 
forest, all as familiar as old friends to Champlain; 
past little islands which he had explored and named 
five years ago. At last they came to the " Rock," 
the high cliff projecting out of the river, in front of 
which was a strip of rich land covered with walnut 
trees, so well sheltered by the cliff that Champlain 
at once seized upon it and there and then laid the 
foundation of the present city of Quebec. Land- 
ing on July 3d, he set one band of workmen to 
chopping down trees; another band sawed them 
into beams and planks; another dug a cellar and 
hollowed a ditch ; and still another band hurried back 
to Tadoussac to bring utensils and stores. 

A charm hung over the life of Champlain; a 
threatened mutiny among his workmen was betrayed 
and the ringleaders were punished, but the buildings 
rose in spite of everything. Good, substantial, 
w^eather-proof buildings defied the Winter which was 
coming fast upon them. Champlain's own drawing 
of these quarters can at least give some idea as to 
what forethought planned them, and the comforta- 
ble curling smoke issuing from the three chimneys 
makes one think of the huge fireplaces inside. 



228 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

There was a palisade around these buildings and a 
moat fifteen feet wide and six feet deep, with an 
old-time drawbridge, and many other means of pro- 
tection and defence. During the month of October, 
Champlain sowed wheat and rye and planted vines 
in their little enclosure In November the snow 
began to fall and the Winter closed in upon them. 
A terrible Winter it was, killing twenty out of the 
twenty-eight, and though the neighbouring Indians 
were friendly, the Iroquois, their deadly enemies, 
were already threatening an attack. So the poor 
colonists lived in constant dread. 

The Spring was slow in coming and dreary 
enough; four of the eight survivors were ill. But 
Champlain, whom nothing could daunt, determined 
to explore the St. Lawrence, and he set out on this 
memorable voyage from Tadoussac, where he had 
gone to consult Pontgrave, on July i8, 1609, in com- 
pany with about two or three hundred Indians, — 
mostly Hurons, Montagnais, and Algonquins, his 
sworn friends and allies. But these childlike people 
wished to see the buildings in Quebec first, and so he 
had to go back with them for feasting and celebra- 
tions, and they started afresh on the 28th, Cham- 
plain in a shallop with half a dozen men, the In- 
dians all following in their canoes. 

It must have been a pretty sight under the Sum- 
mer skies to see the broad bosom of the great river 
dotted with the frail boats. Champlain was intent 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 229 

on discovery, but the savages v^ere thirsting for the 
blood of their enemies, and led him on and on into 
the wilderness in the hope of meeting and fighting 
the Iroquois. When they came to the mouth of the 
River Richelieu, they halted for two days' hunting 
and fishing. Then there was a dispute and half 
the Indians went home; the remainder went on up 
the river with Champlain, but at length they came 
to the Falls of Chambly, which neither the shallop 
nor the canoes could pass. The canoes, being light 
enough to be easily carried where paddling was im- 
possible, Champlain decided to send back the shallop 
and to go on in a canoe, for he had heard of a cer- 
tain great lake " filled with green islands and 
surrounded by a beautiful country," and he 
wished to find it before going back to Quebec. 
The Indians, too, were anxious for him to push 
on, for about the shores of this lake lurked the 
Iroquois. 

Champlain proved himself a good friend; he bore 
with all their customs and celebrations because he 
knew unless he honoured them they would take him 
nowhere. They paddled to the beginning of the 
great lake which bears Champlain's name, and there 
were such unmistakable signs of the near presence 
of the Iroquois that every precaution was taken. 
They lay hidden during the day and used their 
stealthy paddles by night. The Indians began to 
have dreams which always preceded a battle, 



230 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

and at last seeing that a fight was certain Ch'amplain 
had a convenient dream too. He declared to his 
alHes that he dreamed he saw the Iroquois drowning 
in the lake. 

The next evening they came upon some Iroquois 
canoes. They were in the heart of the Adirondacks 
now, and the Iroquois swarmed on every side. 
There were yells and shouts of defiance, and a battle 
was arranged for the morning. Champlain had 
with him only two white men but they were pro- 
tected by armour and each had his harquebus. They 
separated, each lying down in the bottom of his 
canoe so as not to be seen. The allies crossed to 
the opposite shore and the Iroquois, headed by three 
stately chiefs, came forth to meet them. 

The Algonquins bade Champlain shoot at the 
chief. He promised to do his best, and they drew 
aside to let him go first. When he was quite near 
enough to aim, he stood up and the enemy stopped 
in astonishment, for he was the first white man they 
had ever seen. As they bent their bows he fired 
his harquebus, loaded with four balls, and killed the 
chief and two warriors. This seemed a miracle to 
the untutored Iroquois, and when another harquebus 
was fired from another spot, they broke and fled, 
leaving their dead and wounded and all their camp 
stores behind them, while the allies were unhurt. 
This battle took place near Ticonderoga. Cham- 
plain could not prevent the cruelty of the victors. 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 231 

and his beloved lake was the grave of the tortured 
bodies of their victims. 

The next day they turned towards home. When 
they reached the Falls of Chambly, on the river 
Richelieu, the Hurons and Algonquins went their 
separate ways, and the Montagnais paddled down 
the St. Lawrence, just touching at Quebec and 
hastening to Tadoussac, where wives and daughters 
were waiting to greet the triumphant warriors. 

But this raid made the Iroquois tribes bitter ene- 
mies of the French. Living in the central and west- 
ern parts of New York State, they had convenient 
ways of threatening Canada — by Lake Champlain 
and the river Richelieu, or by Lake Ontario and 
the St. Lawrence river. They were fiercer, braver, 
and better warriors than any other Indians and 
proved a constant menace. 

In August, leaving the little colony at Quebec un- 
der the guidance of Pierre Chauvin, Champlain and 
Pontgrave returned to France to seek further aid 
in money and grants. Champlain went at once to 
De Monts, who was at Court. He also had an inter- 
view with the King to whom he brought presents 
from New France. The Sieur de Monts could get 
little or nothing from, the royal favour. But Pont- 
grave was eager to go back, and Champlain was 
ready to pass another Winter in Quebec. So all 
three being of one mind, went to work with energy, 
collecting stores and supplies. 



232 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

They were not any too soon. Already, Henry 
Hudson was crossing the Atlantic on his hunt for 
the fabled passage to Cathay. The Dutch East In- 
dia Company had sent him, and his little vessel, the 
Half Moon, had glided into a broad river flowing 
north, up which he sailed as far as the Catskills. 
This river was called the Hudson, and this voyage 
was the beginning of the Dutch settlement at New 
Amsterdam on the island of Manhattan. So it 
was well that Champlain went back to protect his 
slim little settlement from the invading discover- 
ers. 

After some delay in getting off from Honfleur, he 
reached Tadoussac on April 26, 1610, and learned 
that his people in Quebec had had a good Winter 
with hardly any sickness. The pleasant relations 
between the Frenchmen and the allied Indians still 
continued, and often there was a friendly exchange 
— some young Indian being sent to the French 
camp, and a young Frenchman to the Indian camp 
to learn the customs and the language. This was 
considered a great compliment on either side. 

The murder of Henry IV was a blow to all the 
French colonists, and Champlain and Pontgrave 
found it harder than ever to get money and supplies 
for the struggling settlement. Much time was spent 
voyaging back and forth between France and Que- 
bec to arrange matters and adjust affairs, and so 
earnest was Champlain, so eager for the welfare 



THE FATHER OF NEW FRANCE 233 

of those committed to his care, that he well deserved 
the name they gave him — the Father of New 
France. 

On one of these voyages home, rather late in life, 
he married a charming young girl, Mademoiselle 
Helene Boulle, and though she only spent four 
years in Quebec, some time after her marriage she 
proved of great help to the Jesuit and Recollet 
Fathers whom Champlain induced to settle in New 
France for the conversion of the savages. 

In short, Quebec was founded upon the persistent 
efforts and the rare courage of a handful of brave 
men, but to Champlain, the full measure of credit 
should be given. He was constant, he was firm, he 
w^as courageous. He had a tender and compas- 
sionate heart, was loyal to his friends, and had a 
high sense of honour, while his memoirs show him 
to be not only a faithful and sincere historian but 
a good mathematician and an able mariner. 

There are many towns and states in the New 
World which preserve with honour the names and 
the memory of their founders, but none have cause 
to be so grateful as that vast territory of Canada, 
watched over and protected by its one heroic cham- 
pion. Twenty times did Champlain cross the ocean 
in its service. His health had been exposed during 
days and nights in the open forest; his life was at 
the mercy of the treacherous savages; yet he passed 
through all unscathed, and had an influence over the 



234 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Indians that no other Frenchman was able to obtain, 
until his death in the land of his labours. 

We might travel on through the long years of 
his patient government but we could not mark a 
single lapse from the straight, clear path of duty. 
In truth, Quebec was founded on a rock, and that 
rock was the Sieur de Champlain. 



CHAPTER X 

THE MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 

A FEW years ago, In September, 1909, the 
great Hudson River that bears the name of 
its discoverer had its fete-day. Those of us who 
were fortunate enough to see the celebration will 
never forget the wondrous beauty of it all. The 
fair cloudless days, the shimmering water covered 
with vessels and craft of every sort, hundreds of 
them gay with flags and bunting. History was 
reproduced for us when the little Half Moon sailed 
proudly up the stream. We had but to shut our eyes 
and our ears to the sights and the sounds about us, 
to step back with the centuries and imagine our- 
selves gazing, as did the wondering Indians, at the 
staunch little bark alone upon the broad bosom of 
the river, steered by Henry Hudson himself, — just 
another among the host of adventurers eternally in 
search of the Northwest passage to Cathay, that 
fabled land which lured many a mariner to the 
open sea and is responsible for every discovery in 
the New World. 

How the little Half Moon happened to ride at 
235 



236 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

anchor in New York Bay three hundred years ago 
is a bit of history, but if Henry Hudson could an- 
swer for himself he would say it was all a mistake. 
He was driven out of his course by storms and the 
mutiny of his men. He had meant to discover a 
short passage to China and the Indies, thence to 
Cathay. Instead, he blundered into the beautiful 
river. Indeed, none of our sea-rovers ever went 
forth to discover what they did, except perhaps Bal- 
boa, whose set purpose to find the *' great sea "of 
which his Indian allies spoke so constantly ended at 
last in the discovery of the Pacific Ocean. But even 
he came over from Spain, like many another soldier 
of fortune, in search of the gold of Cathay. 

Henry Hudson was the second great mariner to 
make a great mistake, for Columbus with his three 
caravels had gone forth on the same quest, discover- 
ing America quite by accident. So, even though 
these two men of undying fame failed to find the 
much desired passage, they did discover more than 
the wealth of the Indies. 

Of Henry Hudson there is little personal record, 
until as a mariner he came forward to offer his 
services to his country. All we know of him dates 
from April 19, 1607, when a communion was held 
in the church of St. Ethelburge, in Bishopsgate 
Street, London, for the seamen who were about to 
embark in the " good ship " Hopezvell, to discover 
a passage by the North Pole to Japan and China. 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 237 

Well might prayers be said in those days of peril 
on the sea, for the " good ships " would not be 
trusted in these days on the most placid of rivers, 
and these dauntless mariners braved an ocean v^ith 
all its unknown terrors in barks so frail that only 
a miracle wafted them across. On this first voyage 
only eleven men and one boy formed the crew of the 
little vessel. They were : 

1. Henry Hudson, Master. 

2. William Colines, his mate. 

3. James Young. 

4. John Coleman, 
g. John Cooke. 

6. James Benbery. 

7. James Stratton. 

8. John Pleyce. 

9. Thomas Baxter. 

10. Richard Day. 

11. James Knight. 

12. John Hudson, a boy. 

These names with their old English spelling have 
been handed down to us complete. They are Eng- 
lish names, and we further glean that they were all 
in the employ of the Great Muscovy Company which 
sprang into existence, as did all the great Discovery 
Companies since the time of Columbus, for the pur- 
pose of discovering a Northwest or a Northeast 
passage to Asia, where were the supposed riches of 
Cathay, — as likely a project as the search for the 
pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! Neverthe- 



238 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

less, men of brains and brawn lent themselves to the 
task, and the Muscovy Company boasted some of 
the best commercial and seafaring names in Eng- 
land. 

Sebastian Cabot was the first Governor of this 
famous Company, founded in 1544, and in the 
meagre family history upon which we can lay our 
finger we learn that the grandfather of Henry Hud- 
son, another Henry Hudson, was one of the found- 
ers, holding position as first assistant in the Com- 
pany. The navigator's father, supposed to be one 
Christopher Hudson, was also connected with the 
Company for many years, being their agent in Rus- 
sia, which country had granted them a charter of 
privileges ; he was also made Governor of the Com- 
pany, holding ofiice until 1601. 

It was perhaps through family influence that 
Henry Hudson, the mariner, was held in such esteem 
and trust by the Muscovy Company. He made 
many voyages for them for trading purposes before 
embarking on discovery. That was usually the way 
of testing a mariner's skill, and when he had proved 
his worth he could dare greater deeds across the 
seas. 

We are fairly certain, however, that Henry Hud- 
son was a native of London ; that he was married ; 
and that he had two sons. One of them, John, ac- 
companied him on all his voyages and finally per- 
ished with him in the waters of the river, which also 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 239 

bears his name. The name of his wife is unknown 
as is that of his second son, but we do know that 
his widow was left in straitened circumstances and 
asked help for herself and her son from the Dutch 
East India Company, in whose employ Henry Hud- 
son made his third most famous voyage in the Half 
Moon. 

This meagre personal history is all we have. We 
know nothing of his youthful, boyish tendencies; of 
what influences touched his life to make him choose 
a career of hardship and danger. We only see be- 
fore us the sober figure of a middle-aged bearded 
man, with a grave, almost sad face. But we know 
from history, that he was courageous, patient, brave, 
and far-seeing, — attributes of a fine man as w^ell 
as a skilled mariner. He was an intimate friend 
of Captain John Smith, and indeed knew all the other 
adventurers of his time whose aims were like his 
own, — to find a Northwest or a Northeast passage. 

The little vessel, Hopewell, in which this daring 
handful of men trusted their lives, had proved its 
seaworthiness ten years before when Sir Martin 
Frbbisher made his last voyage upon it. This 
famous navigator had not found the key to the 
great secret, but he at least proved that there were 
two or more wide openings leading to the westward, 
between latitude sixty and sixty-three degrees, on 
the American coast. And this was something to go 
upon. 



240 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

The Hopewell, with Henry Hudson as master, 
sailed from Gravesend in April, 1607. For many 
weeks it coasted around Greenland on the east side, 
but, encountering that deadliest of foes, the ice 
barriers, Hudson was compelled to change his course. 
So he turned back, after consulting his chart, to seek 
his passage around the north side by way of Davis' 
Straits. Again the cruel ice-barriers rose up to con- 
front him, and after spending several months in the 
vain effort to get out of the frozen waters through 
a new passage, and influenced also by the surly spirit 
among his crew, he became convinced that what he 
sought was not to be found in that quarter. On 
August 15th, the Hopeivell was once more anchored 
in the waters of the Thames. 

In these icy northern waters they first saw whales, 
and on his return Hudson gave graphic descriptions 
of the capture of some of these huge fish, suggesting 
the establishing of the Great Northern fisheries on 
the Arctic coast, with headquarters at Spitzbergen. 
He was thereafter often called " The Father of Eng- 
lish Whale Fisheries at Spitzbergen." The only 
other result obtained by this voyage was that Hud- 
son struck a higher degree of latitude than any of 
the earlier navigators. The gold from the Indies 
was forgotten in the cruel blue shadows cast by the 
snow and ice ; in the vigilant effort to steer the small 
craft safely through the ever menacing danger. 
The cold was intense, the food none of the best. 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 241 

The crew, growing surly and restive, demanded a 
speedy return to the safety of their own harbour. 

This was easier to say than to do. But Henry 
Hudson, being above all a man of sound common 
sense, ventured no further, for greater than his fear 
of whales and icebergs, of cold and even famine, was 
his dread of a mutineering crew. 

That was the greatest difficulty which beset the 
hardy discoverers of our new world. The crews 
were usually a motley throng of men, lured by the 
thought of the gold that lured their betters, and 
watching the Master always with lowering, threat- 
ening glances. At the slightest sign of doubt, the 
faintest faltering, they were ready to spring upon 
him and tear him to pieces. 

Happy the man who could inspire their trust, who 
had the blithe word and the air of assurance, what- 
ever happened ! Columbus had it, and Balboa, Cor- 
tes, Champlain, and a host of the French explorers. 
But Henry Hudson was a man of few words, and 
was never popular with his seamen. Perhaps he 
was wrapped up in the little son who kept him con- 
stant company, and cared for no one else. How- 
ever that may be, he was not liked ; so when the crew 
muttered " Turn back," it was either obey or be 
cast overboard to feed the sportive whales. For 
himself he did not care, but there was little John 
to consider, and so he turned. 

But Hudson was undaunted, and the Muscovy 



242 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Company, still as eager as ever to find a way to 
China, fitted out the Hopewell the following year, 
trusting to find a Northeast instead of a Northwest 
passage. Henry Hudson was " Master and Pilot," 
and there were fourteen seamen under him, includ- 
ing his son. In this company was one Robert Juet, 
the mate, a man of some education, whose journal, 
full of vivid descriptions, has added much to the his- 
tory of Hudson's third voyage which, after all, was 
the voyage which really counted in the history of the 
world. This same Robert Juet was the ringleader 
of the mutineers who finally put an end to the great 
navigator during the fourth voyage. Juet himself 
perished of starvation at sea on the homeward 
course, but he has left behind him many records 
more or less coloured by his imagination and the 
lawless spirit of the times. Many of Hudson's crew 
left records, but Juet's account of the third voyage, 
and the details of the fourth voyage by one Abacucks 
Prickett, seem to be the best guides. 

This second voyage on the Hopewell started on 
April 22, 1608, from St. Katharine's, London, and 
steered straight for the Norwegian coast. Here, 
terrible weather and continuous fogs stopped their 
progress, but when the fog lifted, with a fair sky 
above them and the open sea stretched temptingly 
before them, their hopes were raised. 

Yet the further north they went the colder it 
grew. Many of the crew fell ill from the exposure; 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 243 

even the ship's carpenter had to give up ; but Hud- 
son showed a calm front under all difficulties and 
through all perils. No one can picture the perils 
of a frozen sea, v^ith icebergs floating around like 
grim white phantoms, and a knowledge that a single 
false turn of the vessel would splinter her in the 
twinkling of an eye. Hudson was much impressed 
by the midnight sun, taking many of his observa- 
tions at that hour. Indeed, he was the first English- 
man to see that strange phenomenon and to comment 
upon it in an extract from his ship's log. 

He recorded no less gravely and with .absolute 
good faith that two of the sailors, Thomas Hillis 
and Robert Raynor, while looking over the side of 
the ship one morning saw plainly a mermaid who 
played for a moment on the surface of the sea, and 
then, with a flourish of her fishy tail, disappeared 
in the cold depths. Hudson himself describes in 
one paragraph this land of the " unsetting sun " and 
the appearance of the " Merrie Mermaid." 

" The fifteenth, all day and night, clear sunshine. 
The latitude at noon, seventy-seven degrees, seven 
minutes. We held westward by our account, thir- 
teen leagues. In the afternoon the sea was as- 
suaged, and the wind being at east, we set sail and 
stood south by east and south southeast as we could. 
This morning, one of our company, looking over- 
board, saw a mermaid, and calling up some of the 
company to see her, one more came up, and by that 



244 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

time she was come close to the ship's side, looking 
earnestly on the men; a little after, the sea came 
and overturned her. . . ." 

He further tells us that her body — the upper 
part at least — though as large as a man, was formed 
like a woman; she had very white skin and long 
black hair. As she went down into the sea, they 
saw her tail which was like a porpoise and speckled 
like a mackerel. The seeing of strange sights in 
the Northern seas Jules Verne has often described 
in his wonderful books. They are what is known 
as mirages, and often occur in those dazzling coun- 
tries of snow and ice. But the simple, uneducated 
seamen of that day accepted the mermaid as an un- 
deniable fact, and Hudson received their account in 
the same spirit. 

As they neared the coast of Nova Zembla, the 
water turned a whitish green; whales were sighted 
and flocks of sea-fowl covered the surface of the 
ocean. For the first time during the voyage, the 
little vessel was blocked by the ice, — a treacherous, 
shifting barrier that closed in about her at every 
turn. On the ice that surrounded them the crew 
could hear the roaring of numerous bears, and the 
sound was not pleasant in their ears at such close 
range. Seals also appeared in great abundance. So 
Hudson's cherished hope of passing to the north 
of Nova Zembla was abandoned ; he turned sorrow- 
fully towards the south, hoping that he might find 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 245 

some other channel which might carry him to the 
eastern side of the islands. 

On June 26th, they were able to approach the land 
they had been so long skirting, and Hudson sent his 
mate, Robert Juet, ashore in the ship's boat with the 
boatswain and four of the men to fill the water 
casks "and to see what the land might yield that 
might be profitable." They brought back a curious 
assortment of things, including whales' fins and deer 
horns. It was warm on this coast, and the melting 
snow was running in streams. Green things grew 
there, for the men also brought back moss and 
flowers. 

The Hopewell on this voyage was evidently pro- 
vided with a small boat, for the men were able to 
make short excursions from the ship to the coast, 
and to venture into some of the narrower streams 
where the vessel could not go. The oozy ground 
of this new land bore the footprints of many wild 
animals, and wild fowl abounded in such numbers 
that the shore was called the Goose Coast. Quan- 
tities of driftwood was also found, probably carried 
by the Gulf Stream to these islands in the Arctic 
circle, — over a distance of thousands of miles ! 

On the morning of June 29, Hudson ordered the 
boat manned, and there being no wind the crew had 
to use both sails and oars. Hudson, always eager 
for the hunting of wild animals, wished his men to 
track some walrus herds, or " morses " as he called 



246 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

them, an ancient name for sea-horses. He wrote 
in his log on the 30th : 

"Calm, hot, and faire weather; we weighed in the 
morning, and towed and rowed, and at noone we came to 
anchor neere the ile aforesaid in the mouth of the river, 
and saw very much ice driving in the sea. ... At the 
island where we rode lieth a little rock whereon were 
fortie or fiftie morses lying asleep, being all that it could 
hold, it being so full and so little. I sent my companie 
ashore to them, leaving none aboord but my boy [his son 
John, probably] and me. By means of their neernesse 
to the water, they all got away save one which they 
killed and brought his head aboord; and ere they came 
aboord they went on the iland which is reasonable high 
and steep. They killed and brought with them a great 
fowle whereof there were many, and likewise some egges, 
and in an houre they came aboord. This ile is two flight 
shot over in length, and one in bredth." 

A flight-shot according to Hudson's measure- 
ments meant a shot from a cross bow or the flight 
of a shaft from a long bow, which would be be- 
tween five hundred and a thousand feet, — a cross 
bow carrying twice the distance of a long bow. 

Hudson was evidently a keen sportsman and his 
journal is full of descriptions of various wild ani- 
mals. He encouraged his men to hunt the walrus 
and wild fowl, and the whales he saw in great num- 
bers roused his enthusiasm, for his far-seeing prac- 
tical mind grasped the importance of these fisher- 
ies. 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 247 

But try as he might, he found no way of getting 
out of those shoals and shallows girdling innumera- 
ble islands, — some real, some mere tricks of the rare 
atmosphere and the Arctic lights — save by turning 
back ; forward he could not stir. The Summer, too, 
was passing, and at length he was forced to own 
himself defeated. Toward the end of July he 
dropped down the Norway coast, coming again into 
the land where the shadows fell at sunset. Doubt- 
less the rough seamen were glad to get out of the 
light of perpetual day! 

Of what the small boy thought of all these won- 
ders there is unfortunately no record. One can 
fancy the lonely child with no. playmates save the 
surly and often unfriendly sailors and with no real 
companionship save that of his grave and often 
silent father. Poor little unsung hero, doomed 
from the very first to share his father's watery 
grave ! And we never know anything about him ex- 
cept that John Hudson, a Boy, was written in capi- 
tals on the list of the ship's crew, and that he sailed 
away with his father and the other unfortunates 
into the great mystery of the yawning bay that en- 
gulfed them. 

He was quite old enough to be of some small 
service on the ship, for he was twelve at the first 
sailing, and each of the four voyages marked the 
milestone of a year. Old enough, too, to share the 
hopes and fears of his anxious father. The pity of 



248 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

it is that some of his boyish feelings are not re- 
corded! Perhaps he could not write; the very 
young were not taught what was then considered a 
fine art, though on the other hand the long days 
with his learned father must have been spent in 
some sort of study. 

There is no doubt that Henry Hudson, being a 
brave man, would have continued to explore these 
Arctic regions, but his clear judgment perhaps de- 
tected menace in the grudging obedience of his crew 
who wished to return. For he wrote on August 7, 
1608: 

" I used all deligence to arrive at London, and there- 
fore now I gave my company a certificate under my hand, 
of my free and willing return without persuasion or force 
of any one of them." He added further, " But now, hav- 
ing spent more than half the time I had, and had gone 
but the shortest part of the way by means of contrary 
winds, I thought it my duty to save victuals, wages, and 
tackle, by my speedy return, and not by foolish rashness, 
the time being wasted, to lay more charge upon the action 
than necessity should compel. I arrived at Gravesend 
the sixth and twentieth of August." 

The Muscovy Company was much disheartened 
over what they considered a second failure to find 
the longed-for passage. They lost sight, for the 
moment, of the impetus Hudson had given to the 
fisheries along the northern coast, and they were 
unwilling to risk another trial which the navigator 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 249 

demanded. They had the greatest respect for his 
nautical skill, but his discoveries as yet had brought 
nothing of value to their coffers. The world, how- 
ever, knew nothing of this. For very natural rea- 
sons these great Discovery Companies kept their 
gains and their losses a profound secret from the 
trade, and England above all things wished to keep 
her plans and schemes a secret from her greatest 
rival, the Dutch East India Company, which was 
already beginning to take notice of Hudson's prow- 
ess. There was always jealousy between these two 
companies, and each did everything in its power to 
prevent the ascendency of the other. So, when the 
East India Company found that Henry Hudson was 
not preparing for a third voyage, he was invited by 
that powerful body to visit Holland and discuss an 
expedition in their service. 

In the Winter of 1609, therefore, Hudson found 
himself in Holland, most courteously treated. He 
has often been blamed for selling his services to the 
Dutch, but it has been recently proved that the em- 
ployment of Englishmen by either the merchants or 
the government of Holland was not an unusual 
thing. Besides, Hudson was a man of family and 
had his living to make. Sea-faring was his profes- 
sion, but the Muscovy Company would not employ 
him. So he was forced to turn where his services 
were requested. 

Amsterdam was the chief rallying place of the 



250 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

Dutch Company, and the English mariner faced a 
notable gathering of merchants, most of them very- 
princes of trade. Among them was one Peter 
Plantius, a minister of the Reformed Church, Flem- 
ish by birth and a great traveller. He became 
Hudson's most powerful ally during the seemingly 
interminable discussions. Jodicus Hondius was an- 
other friend whose influence was exerted in Hud- 
son's behalf, and he also acted as interpreter. 

But unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately as it 
turned out, the Dutch, with their proverbial slow- 
ness and caution, wished to defer their decision for 
a year. They treated him courteously, offering to 
pay his expenses for his visit to Holland but leav- 
ing him most uncertain as to the future. Henry 
Hudson, however, did not leave Amsteidam. One 
of his new friends, a merchant named Isaac Le 
Maire, and once a member of the East India Com- 
pany, seeing how matters stood, approached him 
with a well-planned scheme to get into the employ 
of Henry IV of France. 

That monarch was doing all he could to further 
France's interests across the seas, and already 
Champlain and the other pioneers were cutting their 
way through the primeval forests of New France. 
So, if the matter was properly conducted there was 
certainly no reason why Hudson should not serve 
the French instead of the Dutch. 

Le Maire, no matter what his motive, lost no time 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 251 

in carrying the whole story to Pierre Jeannin, 
Henry's trusted councillor and his representative at 
The Hague. And Henry was eager to claim Hud- 
son's services, for in spite of his friendship for the 
people of Holland, he envied them the giant trade 
they had built up. Soon, negotiations between 
France and the much desired mariner were estab- 
lished. In the meantime the Dutch representative 
in France got wind of the affair and stirred the slug- 
gish minds of the East Indian Company as well as 
the States General of Holland, for the merchants 
and the rulers were bound in their common interests. 

The Company recalled Hudson, and all their pon- 
derous discussions were set aside in face of this 
new rival looming on the horizon. In an incredibly 
short time the contract was drawn up and prepara- 
tions were made for the important voyage. In this 
Dutch paper the navigator was called Henry and not 
Hendrik; so there is no foundation for using any 
other than his English name. This important docu- 
ment agreed to pay him the equivalent of $320 for 
his outfit and for the support of his wife and chil- 
dren, and in case he lost his life his widow was to 
receive $80 in addition to this sum. 

The ship which was fitted out for Hudson was 
named the Half Moon, and those who saw its re- 
production in the celebration a few years ago can 
readily imagine how very small and frail it was to 
undertake so perilous a voyage. It was what was 



252 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

called a Vlie-boat, — a boat built especially for trad- 
ing purposes. The name comes from the island of 
Vlie or Vlieland, lying at the entrance of the Zuyder 
Zee. These boats were built with almost flat bot- 
toms and were very light craft. How the Half 
Moon managed to escape destruction in her voyage 
from the Arctic circle to the shores of the upper 
Hudson is a never-ceasing marvel. No wonder the 
simple Indians along the American coast thought 
that Hudson was the Great Spirit come in person to 
visit his children, so wraith-like was the little ship 
upon the broad bosom of the waters! When we 
calculate that an ocean steamer is seven hundred and 
ninety feet long and that the Half Moon measured 
not quite seventy-five feet, we can at least have some 
faint idea of the risk taken by the mariners whose 
knowledge of sea- faring was primitive compared 
with that of the ordinary seaman of to-day, and 
whose nautical instruments were poor and rough. 
On April 4, 1609, Henry Hudson in command 
of the Half Moon, with a mixed crew of Dutch and 
English, eighteen men in all, set sail from Amster- 
dam. After two days in the Zuyder Zee, he passed 
the island of Texel and sailed up the Norwegian 
coast. On May 5th, he rounded the North Cape 
and once more he saw the midnight sun. Here for 
two weeks he struggled, not only against the ice 
barriers but against something more dreadful still 
— the mutinous spirit of his crew. Many of these 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 253 

men had been with him before, and knowing the 
menacing perils they refused to go farther. Once 
again Hudson was forced to turn back, but he deter- 
mined to win success somehow. Although his in- 
structions from the East India Company were 
strictly to find a northeast passage, he determined 
since this had been found impossible to do what he 
could to find a northwest passage. There were two 
routes for this — one by way of Davis Strait, dis- 
covered by John Davis in 1584; and the other one 
was to sail to the coast of America somewhere about 
the latitude of 40 degrees. 

Captain John Smith, his great friend, had sug- 
gested this idea to him in recent letters, believing 
as did many at that time that " there was a sea lead- 
ing into the western ocean between New England 
and Virginia." No one, not even the most learned 
geographer of his time, had any idea of the breadth 
of the American continents, and North America was 
believed to be as narrow at the point described by 
Smith as at the Isthmus of Panama. They little 
dreamed that these continents were blocking the 
way to Asia, and we of the United States are doing 
now what the early explorers would have done had 
they known — making a short western route to the 
East across the Isthmus of Panama. Could all the 
dead heroes who lost their lives in the effort only 
wake up for a short space to see the splendid work 
on the big Canal, — what a jubilee there would be! 



254 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

After much discussion with his crew, the Ameri- 
can coast was decided upon. Two months later, 
July 1 8th, the Half Moon was anchored in a har- 
bour on the coast of Maine, to make a new foremast, 
theirs having been broken in a recent storm. This 
was probably Penobscot Bay; into it ran a large 
river, and the shores were covered with immense 
pine trees. To reach this shelter, Hudson had 
steered across the Atlantic as his predecessors did. 
Stopping at the Faroe Islands to fill their casks with 
water, and feeling their feet once more on firm land, 
however wild and craggy, the seamen became more 
reasonable. Later, when he reached the banks of 
New Foundland and saw in the distance the French 
fishermen along the banks, Hudson further pacified 
the crew by giving them a day's fishing, and they 
made a glorious haul, catching between one and two 
hundred cod. 

It was in this harbour that they first came in con- 
tact with the savages who were disposed to be harm- 
less and friendly. At first the sailors treated them 
with decency. The Indians, who had come in con- 
tact with the French traders, could speak several 
words in that language, and brought them furs of 
fine quality which they traded for articles of dress. 

But after a while the sailors grew distrustful; a 
few petty thefts of the Indians, a little shrewdness 
and cunning in striking a bargain, roused all the 
evil passions of the white men. Hudson alone was 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 255 

kind and considerate, but the Master had yielded too 
often to his sailors' threats to be able to influence 
their behaviour to these simple natives. Therefore, 
when a dozen of his men drove the Indians from 
their homes with muskets, and pillaged and killed 
when they could, he was powerless to prevent the 
evil. The moment he could, he sailed out of the har- 
bour, fearful of the vengeance of the outraged 
savages. 

Hudson took a southerly course from Penobscot, 
sighting presently Nantucket and Martha's Vine- 
yard, and going nearly as far as the mouth of the 
Chesapeake Bay. He had some idea of hailing 
Captain John Smith in his settlement further down 
the coast, but it is probable, remembering at the last 
moment that he was sailing in the Dutch service, 
he thought a meeting with his English friends might 
not be so pleasant. He had enough ills to bear on 
his own ship to get himself into any further com- 
plications. So he turned north again, and on the 
28th of August, — a hot, sultry day, — they passed 
what is known as Delaware Bay, and saw the shores 
stretching away to the northwest. They also saw 
land at the northeast, the upper point of the bay 
which is known to us now as Cape May. 

As the Half Moon entered the bay, the little ves- 
sel encountered shoals and shallows, and Hudson 
was convinced that some large stream flowed into 
it. But it is one thing to take a vessel straight over 



256 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

a tried course as we do nowadays, and quite another 
thing to feel one's way over an unknown body of 
water, groping from one shallow to another. 

For two or three days the Half Moon kept up 
her uncertain explorations, and finally Hudson, be- 
ing unable to find any strait through which he could 
pass with safety, left Delaware Bay and again stood 
out to the North. At daybreak on September 2d, 
he saw in the distance the low sandy beaches of 
New Jersey, which we know to-day as Long Branch, 
Seabright, and Midland, relieved by the highlands 
of Navesink that loomed to the northwest. " It is 
a very good land to fall in with," writes Juet, " and 
a pleasant land to see." Indeed, any land was good 
to those sea-weary men. 

By five o'clock in the afternoon they had reached 
New York Bay, and then with the fair, broad, un- 
known stream stretching interminably before them, 
the mariners on board the little Half Moon began 
one of the most notable voyages in history. Where 
Hudson landed is even to-day a matter of conjec- 
ture which has passed into tradition. Some say the 
landing was at Coney Island; others maintain that 
the " high and pleasant land " described by Juet was 
Staten Island; and there are many other surmises. 
iBut of one thing we are certain, — the weary crew 
of the Half Moon had discovered '' a good harbour, 
clear water, fine fishing," and a hearty welcome from 
the wondering natives on the shores. 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 257 

There was always, in Hudson's attitude towards 
the Indians, a friendliness which disarmed suspicion. 
But distrust was the watchword of his crew. The 
very moment danger no longer threatened them 
from the sea they began to look for trouble else- 
where, and there is no doubt that their behaviour 
in this new land at the very mouth of the great 
river which they had not yet seen was no improve- 
ment on that in Penobscot Bay. 

However that may be, John Coleman, one of the 
English sailors commanding four other seamen, was 
sent in the ship's boat to sound, and probably he 
passed through the Narrows, going far enough to 
discover the upper bay or harbour of New York 
which they described as an " open sea." They were 
coming back to the ship with the good news when, 
according to their account, the savages in two canoes 
attacked them ruthlessly, and John Coleman was 
killed by an arrow piercing his throat. Two of his 
four companions were severely wounded, but the 
other two fought for their lives, their wounded com- 
panions and their dead leader, racing as best they 
could towards the Half Moon, until the darkness 
mercifully covered their escape. 

Terrified by the dread shadows of the night, not 
knowing what dangers lurked ahead of the thick 
masses of foliage they passed, not knowing where 
they were, nor where was their ship, and ignorant 
of the fact that the primitive Indian hated to fight 



258 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

in the dark, these poor men must have endured un- 
told terrors as they drifted forlornly until morning. 
Even when the sun was up, it took them long hours 
to reach the Half Moon, so spent were they with 
the struggle. 

Of course this mishap aroused much bitterness 
among the crew, and even Hudson felt keenly the 
loss of one of his most faithful sailors. They 
buried the dead man on shore, upon a point which 
was named in his honour, " Coleman's Point," fig- 
ured on the Dutch maps on the end of Sandy Hook. 

Washington Irving has preserved for us many 
humorous and graphic accounts of this first com- 
ing of the Half Moon into the unmolested waters 
of the " Great River of the North." 

To the simple, wondering creatures who descried 
the form of the vessel on the horizon-line came a 
mingling of wonder and terror. It first suggested 
an enormous bird unheard of before on that coast. 
The Indians, believing in signs, thought this a bird 
of omen. As it drew nearer, it looked more like a 
wigwam perched upon a gigantic canoe, and the 
whole, growing larger and larger as it came nearer, 
must be the home of the Manitou, the Great Spirit 
which they worshipped. Curiosity as well as fright 
held them spellbound in their own canoes, but at 
last they paddled with all their might for the shore, 
gave the alarm, and roused the people on the Island 
of Manhattan. And so when the Half Moon came 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 259 

to anchor, all the population of primitive New York 
City assembled upon what we know now as the 
Battery to bid it welcome. 

Hudson, clad in scarlet, so the story runs, put out 
in his small boat for the shore, accompanied by 
many others not so gorgeously dressed, but re- 
garded by all as inferior gods attendant upon the 
Supreme Manitou. The Indians were also in gala 
finery. 

Hudson landed in state ; there was taken from his 
canoe a keg of rum, and it is supposed a silver 
drinking vessel into which he poured some of the 
fiery stuff. He took a sip, and saluting the com- 
pany passed it on to the chief nearest him, who 
smelled of it and passed it on, and so it went round 
the circle until it came to the last man who faltered 
and finally, after a long harangue, lifted the cup 
and drank every drop. There was enough liquor 
there to make ten men quite drunk, and this one 
man sank to the earth in a stupour. His terrified 
companions crowded around thinking him dead, and 
had they not regarded Hudson as an awe-inspiring 
and terrible deity they would have made short work 
of him and his crew. But the Indian recovered, so 
tradition tells us, and was so pleased with the rum 
that he begged for more, and the other chiefs 
clamoured for some, and soon they were all intoxi- 
cated, much to the amusement, though really to the 
shame, of the white men. It was soon found that 



26o THE TREASURE FINDERS 

rum could demoralise these simple people, and ad- 
vantage was taken of that fact to wrest lands and 
furs from them which they never would have yielded 
when sober. 

Much time might be spent in telling of the deal- 
ings of the white men with the Indians, and perhaps 
we might then understand why they became blood- 
thirsty savages — a terror to the creeping civilisation 
of the New World. 

But we are following Hudson out of the bay into 
the broad river that stretched as far and farther 
than the eye could reach. All during the month of 
September, they lingered in these waters. On the 
twelfth, from Juet's journal, it is conjectured that 
the Half Moon anchored in the upper part of the 
Narrows. At two o'clock Hudson crossed the bay 
and entered the river, anchoring again about the 
foot of Forty-second Street; the next halting-place 
was just above Grant's Tomb, a land of unbroken 
forest and gigantic trees coming down to the mar- 
gin of the river, with a similar forest on the western 
bank (the Jersey coast). Looking south, the great 
navigator saw stretching before him what has been 
called the most beautiful bay in the world, and 
toward the north he saw the unbroken line of the 
Palisades. 

One of his biographers tells us that " somewhere 
between the ragged heights of Weehawken and the 
commanding slope of Fort Washington, on the 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 261 

morning* of the thirteenth of September, 1609, 
Henry Hudson stood on the deck of the Half Moon 
and knew that though the fates had warred against 
him, though the course that he had engaged to 
sail had not been accompHshed, though he had come 
thus far only by the fickle favour of a mutinous 
crew, though he was master of his vessel only in 
name, yet he had not failed. . . . Hudson knew, 
what his biographers should have discovered long 
ago, that he was no longer looking for the promised 
passage; he abandoned that search for the time 
being, when he compromised with his rebellious 
people. What he was trying to do was to make his 
defeat spell victory, and the fact that he succeeded 
shows that his wisdom, perseverance, and tact were 
unexcelled, even by his courage and devotion." 

Through many interesting adventures the vessel 
continued the ascent of the river, about as far as 
the present site of Albany. On October 4th they 
turned back, having gone as far as fifty leagues, 
and put out to open sea on the return voyage. 
They were short of provisions, so the Dutch mate 
advised that they winter in Newfoundland and 
search for Davis's nothwestern passage. Hudson, 
who secretly feared his mutinous crew, did not wish 
to stop, for many of his men were ill. It was evi- 
dent that they did not wish to return to Holland, 
for fear the Master would tell of their behaviour, 
and he, understanding this, proposed to sail for Ire- 



2(>2 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

land where they could spend the Winter and decide 
what to do. 

Whether intentional or not, however, the Half 
Moon reached the English instead of the Irish 
coast, landing at Dartmouth one month after leav- 
ing the North River, — pretty good time for a help- 
less little vessel in a big choppy sea ! And no doubt 
Mrs. Hudson and the little Hudsons, whoever they 
were, said " God be thanked" when they got their 
own back, safe and sound. 

From Dartmouth, Hudson communicated with 
the East India Company. The English forbade 
either Hudson or the Englishmen of his company 
to leave their own country, but compelled them to 
serve England. For a long time the Dutch made 
no effort to claim their discovery ; indeed, not until 
long after Hudson's death did they make any effort 
to claim their possessions on the shores of the great 
river. 

Of the fourth voyage — that last fateful one of 
the great mariner — a whole tragedy might be 
written. With a poorly chosen crew and with the 
vicious company of a notorious rascal named Henry 
Greene, whom Hudson took in the hope of reform- 
ing, it is small wonder that this crew became even 
more demoralised than any of the others, and 
Robert Juet, his companion and mate during two 
previous voyages, soon became one of the most 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 263 

dangerous spirits on board the good ship Discoverer 
or Discovery^ as some historians have it. 

It would take too long to follow this vessel in her 
disastrous course. With two firebrands in the 
ship's company, it is a wonder that the Master's 
life was spared as long as it was. The ship Dis- 
covery, which was fitted out by Sir Thomas Smith, 
Sir Dudley Diggs and others, sailed from London 
in April, 16 10. At the very beginning of the voy- 
age there was trouble, for Hudson wrote on April 
2 2d, when he was still in the Thames waters, " I 
caused Master Colebume to bee put into a pinke, 
bound for London, with my letter to the Adven- 
turers imparting the reason why I put him out of 
the ship." Most of the account of the troubles was 
written by Abacucks Prickett, a man of little cour- 
age, who made no stand with the Master when 
trouble came, but who posed as a friend to all sides. 

On June first, a start was made for Greenland, 
but the coast was encumbered with ice, and by July 
they were battling with ice upon " Desolation," 
a point at the southern end of Greenland. Hudson 
also touched Labrador for the first time, and still 
battling with fields of ice he made his way slpwly 
westward towards the new world and the great bay 
to be named after him,, and where he was to close 
his life. 

It is impossible to describe the numberless dis- 



264 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

putes which led to the mutiny. One circumstance 
is notable. Juet was deposed from his position as 
mate, and another appointed in his place. Then 
they were hemmed in at every turn by the treach- 
erous ice, and it is a well known fact among modern 
explorers that nerves go to pieces in the Arctic. 
The ignorant seamen of Hudson's day were nearly 
crazed and became more like beasts than men. 
Discontent stalked abroad; hatred of the Master, 
hatred of each other, petty squabbling among them- 
selves, helped to bring on the tragedy. 

The end came in the Spring of the following 
year. When the ice broke up about the middle of 
June, Hudson sailed from his Winter quarters a 
short distance into Hudson's Bay. Here the ice 
caught and held them. Their provisions were giv- 
ing out and there was nothing to be found in that 
desolate region. With the coming of hunger came 
also the mutiny which had been secretly planned 
through all the Winter months of cold and gloom, 
headed by Juet and Greene. 

They were to put the Master and all the sick 
men and the Master's little son into the frail shallop 
they had with them, give them a bare quantity of 
provisions and a few utensils, and turn them adrift 
in the open bay to die of hunger or be crushed by 
the ice — there would be no way of escape ! 

And this was done. Hudson was overpowered, 
bound, and thrown into the shallop, and with him 



MYSTERY OF THE HALF MOON 265 

his son and seven others more or less disabled by 
sickness. Then they were cut loose from the ship's 
stern and left to their fate, while the mutineers made 
their way homewards to tell the tale as best they 
could. It is some comfort to know that Juet died 
on the way from starvation, and that Henry Greene, 
the other ringleader, was killed in a fight with the 
savages. 

But of Henry Hudson no more was heard. We 
can only picture him as a great artist has done for 
us, sitting calm and undaunted, his son at his knee, 
the sick about him, the icebergs looming near, and 
on his still face a look of prophecy. And so, doubt- 
less, the waters closed over him, but he was never 
forgotten. His name is perpetuated along the 
whole course of the beautiful river, and the great 
frozen bay, noted for its fur trade, owes its undying 
fame to the fact that beneath its icy waters Henry 
Hudson sleeps. 

So the Treasure Seekers at last gave up the hunt 
for Cathay. After Hudson's voyages the breath 
of trade blew from sea to sea; the pioneers had 
opened the great water ways and the merchantmen 
chased away the romance of discovery. There 
were many who still believed that the pot of gold 
could be found at the end of the rainbow, that 
Cathay still existed — hidden from the ken of man. 
The buccaneers and pirates flaunted their black 



266 THE TREASURE FINDERS 

flags and scoured the seas — but still no fabled 
land! Perhaps some day when the great Panama 
Canal begins its active work in the world's com- 
merce, some bold navigator may find those riches 
of the Indies at its terminus, and perhaps then the 
Cathay that lured so many to death and ruin, with 
its deceptive glitter, may take its rightful place 
among the myths of the past. 



THE END 



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